Corporate Power Purchase Agreements signed between renewables projects and electricity buyers (directly as ‘wholesale PPAs’ or indirectly via a retailer) have become an important part of the Australian renewable energy sector.
Since 2017, Corporate PPAs have directly contracted for almost one-fifth of the capacity of new renewable energy projects. As many PPAs are contracted for only some of the project’s capacity that is built, they have supported just under 30 per cent of the new renewables capacity added to the grid.
Once you also consider the deals that have been signed with projects that are financially committed or operational, Corporate PPAs have been supported the majority of renewable capacity at some point in their lifecycle.
Corporate PPAs have directly contracted for almost 40 per cent of capacity and supported projects that account for around 60 per cent of capacity installed.
Figure 1: Corporate PPAs share of Renewable Energy Capacity, 2017-2025. Sources: 1.Corporate PPA capacity: the BRC-A database. 2. For the volume of financially committed renewable energy generation since 2017, the source is Clean Energy Council Q3, 2025; Quarterly Investment Report: Large-Scale Renewable Generation and Storage. Note this includes some renewable generation outside solar and wind farms whereas PPAs have only covered these two technologies. https://cleanenergycouncil.org.au/getmedia/0093826a-d933-4024-adfb-61c03a0e67b4/quarterly-investment-report_q3-2025.pdf.
Corporate PPA deal volumes slowed in 2025 – but amidst a slower year, in which retailers contracted extensively for battery storage but not generation, they remained the largest market segment for contracting renewables
‘Reversion to the mean’ for the corporate PPA market?
After a record year in which the corporate PPA market hit a new peak breaking through 3 GW for the first time in 2024, there was something of a ‘reversion to the mean’ in 2025.
Around 1.3 GW of capacity was negotiated through corporate PPAs, which is similar to the market in most of the 2020’s when deal volumes have generally been between 1 – 1.5 GW.
Figure 2: Corporate PPAs, Volume (MW), Annual
However, in 2025, corporate PPA deal volumes were still larger than contracting by private retailers with solar and wind farms (utility PPAs) – which continued to be marginal as it has been since 2020 – and activity by state-owned retailers (such as Queensland’s CleanCo) which was significant in the early 2020s has also declined.
The CIS tender volumes are much larger than any other market segment, casting a large shadow over the market. However, only a handful of solar and wind projects awarded CIS tenders have reached financial close (hence the hatching) and proceeded to construction.
Figure 3: PPA Market Segments, 2016-25
Is the Australian PPA market converging on international PPA markets?
In earlier years, one of the distinctive features of the Australian PPA market was high diversity in deal, buyer sizes and sectors. However, in the last three years, the Australian PPA market has come to look more like typical international markets with a higher concentration in deal-making amongst large buyers signing very large PPAs (100MW+).
Figure 4: Corporate PPAs, Market Segments by Deal Size (% of capacity)
Resources and mining companies (e.g. Rio Tinto, BHP) and IT companies (e.g. Amazon) have been the major source of deal-making in the last couple of years – signing wholesale PPAs directly with new renewables projects.
Figure 5: Corporate PPAs, Market Volumes (MW) by Sector, 2023 – 2025
A key factor in the decline in retail PPAs with mid-sized buyers is the stalling in the volumes of projects reaching financial closure as these deals are typically signed with projects in commissioning and operating phases.
If and when the transmission of projects from the CIS to financial closure is unblocked, it will be clearer if this is a passing phase or not.
Looking forward to 2030
The Corporate PPA market has fluctuated from a ‘buyers market (post-2020 when projects were chasing offtakers as large retailers stopped contracting after the Renewable Energy Target was achieved) to a ‘sellers market’ (2023-24) as buyers chased deals to meet 2025 targets amidst stagnating renewable energy supply.
For the past 18 months, there has been an element of stasis. Buyers and sellers both observe there is a gap in price expectations as PPA prices are higher after the Covid-induced supply-chain inflation, especially for wind farms.
The high level of market uncertainty around key factors that will shape forward prices (e.g. the timing of coal closures) makes PPA buyers more likely to delay decisions.
However, there is a broad expectation this is going to change as buyers with 2030 sustainability targets will need to contract in the next couple of years. Buyers face a difficult choice: contract now in a complex market or wait and hope that increased supply reduces prices in the next couple of years?
Buyers who delay may face strong competition from other organisations seeking high-quality projects – competition that could intensify from data centres. Electricity users without a PPA also remain exposed to time-to-market risk of a price spike when recontracting retail supply in an unpredictable market.
Corporate PPAs and the CIS
There are three major pathways to a Corporate PPA or PPA market segments at present.
– 1– Large Wholesale PPAs with new RE projects negotiated outside the CIS: Large buyers with the scale, expertise and interest to sign long-term PPAs are able to lock-in low prices with 10 to 25-year PPAs with quality projects.
– 2 – Retail or Wholesale PPAs with new RE projects integrated into CIS bids: some PPAs are included into CIS bids to enhance the attractiveness of bids or for buyers seeking to contract before financial close for additionality recognition.
– 3 – Retail PPAs with RE projects post financial closure (and CIS award): The CIS has been designed to underwrite offtakes for new projects which can then contract through retail PPAs – but has not that worked that way to this moment.
Consequently, unlocking the movement of projects from CIS tenders to financial close and opening up the retail PPA market is one of the keys to the short-term future of the Corporate PPA market.
Dr Chris Briggs is Associate Professor, program lead – Energy Futures, at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney
Chris Briggs
Associate Professor Chris Briggs is the program lead for the Energy Futures group at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology, a technical director for the Business Renewables Centre-Australia and board member of the Australian Alliance for Energy Productivity. Chris has worked in climate and energy roles as a political adviser, policy maker and economist, leader of a regional renewable energy community engagement program and energy researcher.
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