CMS advises on one of the first renewable energy corporate power purchase agreements in Poland

The CMS energy team advised Signify, a Euronext listed company, on the purchase of renewable energy for its operations in Poland from Green Investment Group’s (GIG) Kisielice onshore wind farm by executing a virtual corporate Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA). VPPAs are agreements concerning the virtual purchase of electricity generated from renewable sources directly from the generator. It is one of the first agreements of this type concluded in Poland, and the first VPPA in Europe for Signify. 

The CMS team has supported Signify in the preparation and negotiation of a 10-year agreement between Green Investment Group and Signify for the purchase of renewable energy for Signify’s Polish operations.

The Kisielice wind farm is a 42-megawatt (MW) project located 200 kilometres north of Warsaw that GIG acquired in August. Operating since 2014, it consists of 21 Enercon E82 turbines. The wind power sourced under the VPPA will be used to power four of Signify’s factories and several offices throughout Poland. According to Signify’s press release, the VPPA is expected to reduce Signify’s annual carbon footprint by 73 kt CO2e pa. 

“We have recently observed in Poland a growing interest in direct purchase of RES energy from generators, which is related, on the one hand, to the desire to reduce the costs of running a business and ensure the stability of energy prices and, on the other hand, to ensure a greater share of RES energy. In the long term, the cost of generating RES energy will continue to fall, while in the case of high-emission sources, businesses have to take into account the opposite trend. Corporate PPAs are still a novelty in Poland,” stresses Piotr Ciołkowski, partner in the CMS energy team. 

The advice on one of the first corporate PPAs concluded in Poland was provided by an international CMS team headed from Warsaw by Piotr Ciołkowski, partner specializing in regulatory advice for the energy sector and transactions on the renewable energy market and from London, CMS’s Head of Clean Energy, Munir Hassan. Piotr and Munir were supported by a team comprising senior associate Dalia Majumder-Russell and, associates Piotr Prawda and Freddie May.