For corporate buyers, 2025 challenged a long-standing assumption: that higher wholesale prices naturally increase the attractiveness of long-term PPAs.

While average electricity prices rose in many markets, the risk profile attached to those prices changed materially. Increased volatility, more frequent negative price periods, and declining capture rates weakened the hedging value of simple pay-as-produced structures. For offtakers with fixed load profiles, the mismatch between generation output and consumption became more costly to manage.

Macroeconomic pressure also played a role. Many industrial buyers shifted focus from sustainability-led procurement towards cost control and competitiveness. In this environment, committing to long-term price exposure, even at levels that appeared attractive on paper, became harder to justify internally.

Policy signals further complicated decision-making. Anticipation around state aid schemes and regulated power price mechanisms reduced the urgency to secure PPAs in the short term. For some sectors, the expectation of partial shielding from market prices delayed procurement decisions rather than accelerating them.

The exception remained buyers with the capability to absorb complexity. Large corporates with diversified portfolios, advanced risk management, or strategic decarbonisation mandates continued to contract PPAs, often favouring markets and technologies where capture dynamics were more stable.

Overall, 2025 marked a recalibration rather than a retreat. Corporate offtakers became more selective, more risk-aware, and less willing to rely on headline prices alone.

The PPA market review of 2025 and outlook explores how offtaker strategies diverged by sector and region, and what this implies for procurement in 2026.

For ongoing perspective on procurement conditions, policy developments, and price dynamics across European power markets, Veyt’s monthly cross-market update provides regular context.