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RE-Source 2026 discussions pointed to a shift in European corporate renewable contracting: buyers and sellers are focusing more on allocating price and operational risk as negative-price hours pressure solar-only power purchase agreements. Hybrid contracts pairing renewables with batteries are attracting more interest, but questions remain over battery revenues, grid costs and guarantees of origin for stored electricity.
European corporate renewable buyers and suppliers are shifting negotiations from headline electricity prices toward who carries market and operational risk, according to discussions at RE-Source 2026 in Amsterdam on Nov. 4-5. Participants described negative-price hours as a growing strain on solar-only power purchase agreements (PPAs), while battery-backed hybrid contracts are drawing more attention.
The 10th edition of the conference, organized by SolarPower Europe and WindEurope through the RE-Source Platform, drew about 1,400 participants, including more than 350 corporate energy buyers. The platform said buyers held roughly 400 prescheduled meetings with suppliers. Yet corporate PPA activity has weakened: the platform reported that agreements had secured 5.9 gigawatts of renewable capacity in Europe so far in 2026, 9.7% less than in the same period last year.
Francesco Rossetto, a policy officer at the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), described the market as “cooling down a little bit.” He said activity peaked in 2024 and has remained near 2025 levels. Rossetto also reported that the share of hours with very low power prices rose from 1% to 2% in 2021 to about 10%. Those figures refer to very low prices, not exclusively to negative prices.
Solar generators are particularly exposed when output is concentrated in hours of abundant supply. Max Plumptre, European transactions director at LevelTen Energy, said solar capture rates—the share of the average market price a plant earns—have roughly halved in Spain and Germany since 2022. Pexapark reported a 43% fall in standalone solar PPA volumes this year and said Italy had overtaken Spain as its largest market. The firm attributed the change largely to a collapse in Spanish activity and estimated that almost one-quarter of Spain’s solar output this year was produced during negative-price hours.
Why Battery-Backed Contracts Are Gaining Ground
The shift matters because a PPA’s value depends not only on the agreed price but also on when electricity is generated, whether it can be stored, and who absorbs the cost when market prices fall. For buyers, solar-only contracts may provide less predictable value when production coincides with low or negative prices. For sellers, adding a battery may improve flexibility but introduces additional costs and competing ways to earn revenue.
Companies also face a practical contracting question: many industrial sites need electricity across the day, while wind and solar production varies. Kenneth Dupont, energy category director at insulation maker Rockwool, said the company moved away from single-technology PPAs because they do not match factories that operate around the clock. He advised buyers to cover about half their demand with PPAs and meet the rest with renewable energy certificates. That is his guidance, not a universal rule for corporate procurement.
The economics can also depend on access to the grid. Pexapark’s Itamar Orlandi said much of a battery’s value comes from ancillary services—products used to help balance the power system—rather than simply supplying a corporate customer. He put that share at half to two-thirds of battery value. Most corporate buyers do not trade those services themselves, leaving utilities and specialist traders central to many battery contracts.
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From Solar-Only Deals to Flexible Supply
The conference took place at Amsterdam’s Beurs van Berlage on Nov. 4-5. Its focus reflected a broader change in European power markets: more renewable generation can create hours when supply exceeds demand, placing pressure on the market value of output from solar plants. Conference figures and statements describe current market conditions; they do not establish that every country or contract is affected in the same way.
Several speakers said buyers are asking for more than one technology in procurement processes. Plumptre said nearly every request for proposals on LevelTen’s platform this year included a hybrid product in some form, and about 25% of offers in its latest quarterly report were hybrid. Pexapark said PPAs combining multiple technologies had almost doubled. These are figures reported by the companies and concern their respective markets or datasets.
Spain was cited as a case where storage may help make existing renewable connections more useful. Statkraft’s Silvia Escudero said the country had recorded about 920 hours of zero or negative prices so far this year and that, where new grid connections are scarce, adding batteries behind existing solar connections is the fastest route to market. She also cautioned that batteries can earn more by providing grid services than by shifting power to a corporate buyer.
“He advised buyers to contract about half of their demand through PPAs and cover the rest with renewable energy certificates.”
— Kenneth Dupont, energy category director at Rockwool
Open Questions on Battery Revenues and Proof
The conference account does not establish how quickly hybrid PPAs will replace or supplement solar-only contracts, or whether corporate buyers will gain a larger share of battery revenues. Orlandi said utilities and traders still take almost all battery offtake, although a handful of sophisticated German companies have recently signed hybrid contracts. The scale and wider replicability of those corporate deals were not specified.
Contract economics also vary by battery location and operating rights. Franceschino gave indicative figures for French tolling agreements starting in 2029: annual fees of about €80,000 per megawatt for standalone batteries, €65,000/MW for co-located units that can also charge from the grid, and €45,000/MW for units charging only from on-site solar. He also cited annual grid and cabling costs of about €50,000/MW for standalone batteries, compared with about €35,000/MW for the battery itself. These are examples for specified contract types, not market-wide prices.
A further gap concerns guarantees of origin, certificates used to document renewable sourcing. One panelist said only one or two European countries issue them for stored electricity. The source report does not identify those countries or clarify how quickly other markets might adopt similar systems. It also ends during a discussion of seller concerns about zero-price floors, so it does not provide the full account of that argument or the panel’s response.
Contract Terms Will Test the Shift
The next test will be whether rising interest in hybrid products produces signed contracts with terms that work for both corporate buyers and project owners. Participants pointed to emerging structures such as profile swaps, which reshape variable renewable output into a delivery pattern better suited to a buyer. Traders may help arrange those deals by providing credit, risk capital and access to power markets.
For buyers evaluating proposals, the conference discussion suggests that headline prices alone may not capture the deal’s value. Key terms include who bears exposure during negative-price hours, how battery dispatch is controlled, whether grid-service revenue is shared, and how renewable attributes are certified for stored electricity. The source does not announce a new regulation, policy decision or confirmed agreement arising from the conference.
RE-Source participants will continue negotiating through the market’s existing procurement and trading channels. Further reported PPA volumes, contract examples and changes to certification practices will show whether the interest described in Amsterdam translates into broader corporate adoption. Until then, the pace and scale of that shift remain uncertain.
Key Questions
What was the main takeaway from RE-Source 2026?
Participants said renewable buyers and sellers are focusing more on how contracts allocate risk, as negative-price hours challenge solar-only PPAs and battery-backed hybrid deals attract more interest.
How much European renewable capacity was covered by corporate PPAs in 2026?
The RE-Source Platform reported 5.9 GW so far in 2026, down 9.7% from the same period in 2025. The report does not give a full-year figure.
Why are buyers interested in battery-backed PPAs?
Batteries can shift when renewable electricity is delivered and may help address variable generation. But their value also depends on grid services, operating rights and costs, so a hybrid contract is not simply a solar PPA with a battery added.
Are corporate buyers already taking most battery offtake?
No. Pexapark’s Itamar Orlandi said utilities and traders still take almost all battery offtake, although a handful of German corporate buyers have recently signed hybrid contracts.
What remains uncertain after the conference?
The report does not establish how quickly hybrid contracts will spread, how battery revenues will be divided, or when more European countries may issue guarantees of origin for stored electricity.
Source: ess-news.com
