Challenger energy supplier So Energy (SE) is set to sign three new power purchase agreements (PPA) next month following the successful launch of its first direct partnership with a generator.
The company, which supplies c200,000 customers, has linked up with Garnett’s Hydro generator on the Wharfe River in Otley, West Yorkshire for its first PPA. The company said that in the first three months of the deal, it generated 120,000kWh of energy.
SE co-founder and joint chief executive Simon Oscroft told Utility Week that while this will only cover a fraction of the energy for its customer base, PPAs will form an increasingly important part of the company’s supply going forward. The next three agreements – all with wind generators – start in October.
At the start of this year SE signed a three-year energy trading deal with Axpo, which Oscroft said would complement the new focus on PPAs.
He said: “A core part of our mission at So Energy is to provide people with great value renewable electricity. We’ve traditionally done this by buying electricity on a wholesale basis through our key partner Axpo, Switzerland’s largest producer of renewable energy, and then working with other partners to help us source Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin from generators themselves.
“But we want to do more. This PPA agreement, and others that will now follow, ties us closer to the power we procure. It enables us to directly support renewable generators, like the one at Garnett’s Wharfe, by ensuring we pay businesses for the energy they export to the grid for a set period of time. This then helps renewable developers – as opposed to fossil fuel developers – gain greater certainty on earning extra income which is then reinvested in building further renewable capacity. That way the grid gets greener and greener.”
Oscroft also pointed to SE’s move to install solar panels and batteries in customers’ as a further example of the company’s green strategy.
The So Energy Solar System package is currently in beta mode with a handful of customers testing the service, and will be rolled out over the coming months. The product allows SA to remotely control each battery to optimise its use, factoring in projected home energy consumption, weather data and wholesale prices, as well as the carbon intensity and capacity of the grid.
You can read a full profile of SA and interview with Oscroft as part of our Customer Centric series on suppliers ranked highly for customer service.