For PPA market players, an ability to access coveted real transacted price data is anywhere from limited to impossible. LevelTen is changing that.
We recently published our 2026 Q1 Transacted PPA Pricing Report for Europe, pulling back the curtain on the prices, terms, and timelines of real clean energy deals. The report reveals the specific price points at which deals are getting done, market-by-market trends, and which contractual elements — from price floors to non-settlement thresholds — dealmakers are agreeing on.
We sat down with Adela Ballester Valdeolivas, Senior Energy Analyst at LevelTen Energy, to discuss the process behind the report, how the data was captured, and how her team made access to real transacted pricing a reality.
Let’s dive in. Adela, this analysis was released as a Market Transparency Report (MTR). What are MTRs, and why are they important?
It’s a great question because these reports involve quite a heavy lift from the team, so we always need to ensure they provide maximum value for our clients.
At LevelTen, we release MTRs every quarter to provide insight and clarity into key price trends impacting PPA markets. Previous reports have covered battery energy storage, baseload PPAs, key regions such as Eastern Europe, shortlisted PPAs in RFPs from the LevelTen Marketplace, and more. This was our first time publishing an MTR on transacted pricing in Europe.
MTRs are important because they shine a light on corners of the energy market that are typically — and often notoriously — opaque. As the world’s largest two-sided PPA marketplace with 1300+ developers in our network, LevelTen is uniquely positioned to gather insight and data which supports clients in making strategic decisions. MTRs are a critical way we enable them to do that.
There isn’t exactly a database of transacted PPA prices somewhere that you can just look up. So how was this report created?
Right —– this dataset was compiled completely manually with input from our fantastic network of developers and buyers. It was a rigorous process.
First, we gathered data via Requests for Information (RFIs) from renewable energy players operating across several different European countries, focusing on deals signed in 2025.
We then compared these real, transacted PPAs against our internal data of thousands of offers submitted and shortlisted to RFPs in 2024 (not 2025, since signed deals in 2025 were presented as offers in 2024). This gives us great visibility into the relationship between submitted offers and signed deals — not just in terms of price but also tenor lengths, technology preferences, contract start dates, contractual details, and more.
To maintain strict confidentiality in the report, we utilised data aggregation and exclusion criteria to protect individual project and client identities. This ensures that the report provides real market intelligence without compromising the anonymity of its contributors.
Only those who contributed to the report get access to the final product, making it a highly exclusive and deeply insightful tool for participating organisations.
Why is this comparison between RFP offers and transacted prices so critical for market participants?
Transacted prices tell you a great deal, but they are only half of the story. The scope of this report is to provide real insights and transparency into the characteristics of PPA offers that actually get over the line.
By comparing initial RFP longlists against final signed deals, we can see exactly how buyers and sellers are negotiating risk and where the market actually clears. For example, the report uncovered some surprising insights into how contractual tools like non-settlement thresholds are priced into deals, and how such clauses are added or removed from negotiations between the shortlisting and signing of a PPA.
What were some of the most surprising learnings from this report?
I can’t give away the numbers, but what I can say is that, at a broad level, the geographic divergences are highly revealing. For instance, Spain is showing tremendous liquidity, but oversupply is shifting negotiating power towards buyers. This impacts not only pricing, but also the contractual features that emerge in signed deals. Conversely, we are seeing markets like Italy driven by long-tenor contracts, largely fueled by energy-intensive industrial buyers seeking revenue certainty over longer durations.
The report also revealed a massive focus on risk mitigation. As negative pricing uncertainty grows across Europe, buyers and sellers are heavily negotiating downside protections. The report goes into details on the numbers here, and which types of protections are finding traction. Suffice to say here that negative price risk is clearly front-and-centre of peoples' minds when they are signing PPAs!
Finally, a very strong correlation emerged between the price benchmarks on our Marketplace and the transacted prices reported during this process. In most markets, the deviation between the 25th percentile (P25) of offers on our database, which is the reference for our quarterly Index, and the final transacted prices fell within a maximum range of 6%. This highlights the value of the data on the LevelTen platform as a reliable and precise price indicator.
Let's look at the seller's side. Did the data reveal any insights into what makes a developer successful in this current climate?
Absolutely. The data clearly shows that volume matters. Developers who submit a higher number of offers to RFPs experience a significantly higher success rate in eventually signing a PPA. That highlights that, in markets with abundant supply, active participation and flexibility are key.
Without blowing our own trumpets too much, the report also revealed how active users of the LevelTen platform find much greater success in signing deals. This really validates the data insights and market-wide price transparency that we work hard to deliver for our platform subscribers.
Let’s close by talking about PPA shapes and structures. What does the report tell us in this regard?
Ok, this is where I really have to be careful what I say because I’m not allowed to share too much, and this is a crucial area we get asked about a lot at LevelTen. I think it’s widely understood in the sector that pay-as-produced shapes are losing their shine, though they remain the market's dominant flavour.
Regarding price structures, fixed-for-floating remains the clear preference. The report made clear, however, that market-indexed contracts are gaining ground in some of the more liquid markets, where wholesale price depth makes this structure interesting.
If the report tells us one thing, it is that the preferences of both buyers and developers are shifting as the risk landscape shifts across Europe. There is almost always a landing zone that satisfies both sides, but having access to real, up-to-date price data is essential. That’s where LevelTen comes in.
Adela Ballester Valdeolivas is a Senior Energy Analyst at LevelTen Energy. Connect with her on LinkedIn here.
Ready to Go Deeper?
The insights shared here only scratch the surface. The full report is available to those who contributed. Become a LevelTen subscriber to contribute to, and access, future MTRs.
Reach out to Info@leveltenenergy.com to learn more.
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