Our PPAs with Onshore wind projects

Lessons learnt

Lessons learnt from Onshore Wind projects

SmartestEnergy has supported several onshore wind projects, focusing on structuring deals that manage market risks and ensure long-term success for both generators and investors.

Learnings
Negative pricing management	If negative pricing is expected, SmartestEnergy will notify the generator at the day-ahead stage. The generator must reduce output to zero during those periods. Any electricity generated during these times will be paid at the Electricity System Price Percentage, not the contract price.
Staged commissioning	We’ve structured deals to support phased commissioning. In one example, we enabled part of a site to be brought online early, with the rest following later, adjusting pricing to reflect each stage, offering flexibility and fairness.
REGO hedging	CfDs are long-term, but REGO markets are short-term and liquid. To bridge that gap, we’ve built in mechanisms that give access to the REGO market throughout the contract term, helping projects maximise value.
ROCs – 2027 Considerations	There’s still uncertainty around how the Fixed Price ROC Scheme will operate after 2027. We’ve made commercial allowances in our contracts to account for this, helping older projects stay bankable.

Lessons learnt from Onshore Wind projects

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Learnings
Sleeving Corporate PPAs	Sleeved CPPAs are becoming more and more relevant for onshore wind as corporates are looking to secure baseload volumes from existing assets. While this model is more established offshore, we’re seeing interest growing for onshore too.
Balancing Mechanism strategy	There’s increasing focus on fair and reasonable bid / offer prices in the Balancing Mechanism. For CfD assets, we use a dynamic pricing approach based on the IMRP for each settlement period, ensuring transparency and compliance.
Grid & policy risk mitigation	We factor in potential grid delays and policy changes, like REMA and zonal pricing, when structuring deals. This helps ensure our pricing models and timelines remain bankable, even in a shifting regulatory landscape.

SmartestEnergy is a flexible, experienced partner that understands the complexities of onshore wind and deal structuring. We work in close partnership to provide the knowledge, insight, and technology to support long-term success for developers, investors, and corporates alike.

Powering communities with BayWa r.e. UK

The Broken Cross Wind Farm

Built on the site of a former opencast coal mine in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, Broken Cross Wind Farm is a nine-turbine transmission-connected project.

Renewable energy company, BayWa r.e. UK, acquired this project in 2021, with SmartestEnergy as the commercial partner providing, a six-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).

CfD PPA contract framework

Following the Broken Cross Wind Farm’s success in the Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 4 (CfD AR4), our partnership provides BayWa r.e. with a viable route-to-market based on our CfD PPA contract framework.

43.20MW

Planned capacity

c36,900

Homes powered annually with clean, green electricity.

£5000

Per installed megawatt of annual community benefits package.

Read the full case study

SmartestEnergy and AlphaReal partner to bring new CfD capacity to the UK market

Strengthening a long-standing relationship

In August 2025, we were pleased to announce three new long-term CfD PPAs with AlphaReal, a specialist investment manager.

The new PPAs bring over 73MW of solar and wind capacity to the UK energy market, with a forecasted combined annual output of 95,000MWh, marking a noteworthy contribution to decarbonising the UK grid.

Providing a bankable route-to-market

These projects are the latest step forward in our collaboration bl, providing a secure and reliable route to market for AlphaReal’s renewable energy investments through Parent Company Guarantee (PCG)-backed contracts.

73MW

Solar and wind capacity

95,000MWh

Combined annual output

15 year

CfD PPA terms

Read the full press release