Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, when he intends that the Offtaker of Last Resort will have fostered the creation of a bankable offtake PPA market for independent renewable energy generators; and what assumptions this estimate is based on.

The Offtaker of Last Resort (OLR) mechanism will increase competition and reduce PPA discounts by enabling independent generators and lenders to rely on shorter-term PPAs and a wider variety of PPA counterparties. Powers were taken in the Energy Act 2013 to enable the establishment of the OLR. We are minded to report on the OLR scheme annually, and to undertake a comprehensive review of it at the end of the first EMR Delivery Plan in 2018/19. Annual reporting would cover a range of market performance measures, including the level of competition in the PPA market.