SAN FRANCISCO – March 8, 2011 – Tioga Energy, a leading provider of renewable energy services to commercial, government and non-profit institutions, today announced that its SurePath™SM Solar power purchase agreement (PPA) is now available to the public through its company website. The contract can be viewed with explanatory annotations online and downloaded in editable form by any interested party, free of charge.
“The economics of solar must be improved in order to sustain industry growth and ultimately contribute a significant portion of power to our grid,” said Paul Detering, CEO of Tioga Energy. “PPAs are a driving force behind the expansion of the commercial, institutional and industrial solar electric markets in the United States, and there are significant cost savings to be had by reducing the resources required to negotiate these contracts. Our ‘open source’ PPA is the first step in realizing those savings, providing greater transparency and helping customers to understand this document. We encourage viewers to provide feedback on how we can further improve our PPA and look forward to establishing a dialogue with the larger community.”
Tioga’s SurePath™SM Solar power purchase agreement helps organizations to cost-effectively realize the benefits of clean, on-site solar power generation without the high upfront capital costs. Under the terms of the PPA, Tioga finances, builds and operates distributed solar electric projects for 15 to 20 years, selling the electricity generated to its customers at low, predictable rates.
The online PPA, which was developed in conjunction with Tioga Energy’s top-tier institutional financing partners, is also complemented by detailed annotations to explain in common terminology the complexities of the legal document.
Costs associated with PPA negotiations typically account for approximately 25 to 50 percent of the overall transactional costs of commercial-scale solar PPA projects. Customers – particularly those in the public sector – can spend significant amounts of time and capital attempting to adapt standard construction contracts into PPA documents. After issuing competitive solicitations around these altered contracts, additional resources are then required to redraft the document and finally arrive at a financeable PPA contract.
“The PPA is a highly specialized contract that must meet the needs of a variety of stakeholders, including tax investors, project developers and customers,” said Marc Roper, vice president of sales and marketing for Tioga Energy. “We see a lot of resources going toward the drafting and negotiation of these agreements, and it’s clear that some of this expense can be avoided. We feel that by placing our proven, annotated contract in the public domain and offering it as a free template, we will immediately impact transactional costs.”
Continued Detering, “Entering into a solar PPA should be more like executing a home mortgage and less like refinancing the national debt. I believe our industry has matured to the point where we can collaborate with interested parties to establish a fair, uniform commercial contract that best meets the needs of all involved. Tioga would be happy to help drive forward such an initiative; in the meantime, we will continue to do our part to chip away at this issue.”
To access Tioga Energy’s SurePath™SM Solar PPA, please visit: www.tiogaenergy.com/annotated-ppa-index.php
Media Contact:
Kimberly Setliff
Antenna Group for Tioga Energy
415-977-1942
kimberly [at] antennagroup.com
