The price fall at the beginning of March saw renewable energy prices across Europe fall between 15 to 30 percent across key markets, compared to average prices in February. Pexapark’s price indices show that the severity of price shock from Covid-19 exceeds what was experienced during previous crises, such as that around the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. According to Pexapark’s composite European index, renewable energy prices have recovered from 32.88 euros per MWh on March 23rd to 36.36 euros per MWh as of April 9th, however they remain below levels seen late last year. As such, many developers and investors are placing PPAs on hold, as the market conditions make any deal financially unviable.
While this recovery is good news, the episode has pointed to the importance of risk management for the renewable energy sector.
In addition to the short-term fall in price, Covid-19 has also led to very high levels of volatility in the market. According to Pexapark’s analysis, market-traded volatility for monthly contracts is near 90 percent, substantially above historically observed levels, reflecting uncertainty over the end of lockdowns and the associated power demand increase.
However, the disruption in the market is unlikely to persist for long. Implied volatility for the 2021 calendar year contract stands at around 30 percent, whereas the 2022 contract trades at a more moderate 25 percent.
Despite this, Pexapark does not expect that the pipeline of PPAs are abandoned until prices and volatility return to normal, as this would do more harm than good in the long term.
“Sourcing, structuring, pricing, negotiating and finally closing (long-term) PPAs are complex processes that require time” said Luca Pedretti, COO of Pexapark. “When prices recover, the industry cannot afford to restart these deals from scratch. For this reason, most investors continue to advance and prepare, albeit at a slower pace than when prices are higher. PPAs can act as a strategic prerequisite to be successful in non-subsidy renewable investment and especially in times of price volatility. To successfully navigate turmoil as we experience it currently, renewable energy players will need to adopt more robust risk management techniques used by trading companies, such as maintaining the ability to quickly sell large energy positions and act flexibly upon price movements.”
Pexapark is hosting a webinar on Thursday 16th April, 12pm CET, to explore energy risk management for renewables in the context of market volatility from Covid-19. Renewable energy professionals looking to join the discussion around strategies to mitigate Covid-19’s impact are welcome to sign up.
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