Credit support vital for Eastern Europe

By Rachael Burnett, Montel

Government credit guarantees for offtakers will be crucial to harnessing Eastern Europe’s considerable power purchase agreement (PPA) potential, Altenex Energy says

“What I would hope to see for the region is a form of state credit guarantee which has been tried and tested in Spain, Norway and France to some extent. I see a massive need in the region,” Corina Melchor, clean energy advisor at the consultancy firm, said.
“Creditworthiness is specific to the region – while other barriers such as permitting are also an issue in western Europe.”
Another issue is the size of offtakers, specifically in Bulgaria where there are not that many companies with a large industrial offtake, she added. “There are not many, I would say under 100, that could take more than 20 GW.”
Most countries in the region have seen less than five transactions “but overall, it has been big companies – this market is still quite inaccessible for smaller companies”.
Market solutions such as aggregated PPAs could be used “as a lever… in theory it’s a great avenue”. However, few aggregated deals have been successful as PPAs are “complicated enough and bespoke” while the issue of offtaker credit still stands in the manner of credit coverage assignment between parties or credit coverage being provided by one main offtaker, she said.

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