Elena Andreea Niculescu

With the current climate change, decarbonization is essential to the global energy transition. In this regard many instruments have been created or developed, Power Purchase Agreements, as a direct legal contract between a power provider and a power buyer, being one of the most popular instruments to increase the use of renewable energy. But sometimes, Power Purchase Agreements get violated due to the elements that constrain and prevent its development and implementation. This situation only brings a certain insecurity to the PPA, and the result is nothing other than to compromise its true role and to distance it from the achievement of the objectives established in its contents. The main goal of this research is to identify and analyze the main drivers and barriers which constrain or prevent the development and implementation of Power Purchase Agreements as a tool for promoting green energy. For this research the comparative analysis, survey based on questionnaires, Spearman’s correlation matrix and IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows are used. The article reduces the gap among the respondents' opinion regarding the Power Purchase Agreements and their involvement in the implementation and development of these contracts, roughly establishing the level where the PPA is located in the transition to green energy. The results suggest that Power Purchase Agreements play a major role in the renewable energy market and they will have a positive impact in what it means the transition to green energy and the achievement of climate neutrality. Therefore, although Romania is a country rich in energy resources that allow the achievement of climate neutrality, it is necessary to take additional measures to attract investors, whose investments will be crucial in the development of energy from renewable energy sources, the three Power Purchase Agreements concluded up to now, regardless they represent a gratifying step, they are not enough to talk about a real Power Purchase Agreement market.

The analysis of the key factors which prevent or contribute to the promotion and development of the Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) in order to meet the sustainability goals represents an important issue which worth being investigated, especially in the situation in which entering in bilateral relations inside this contract has a powerful meaning in achieving new climate targets, developing and improving the use of green energy, and promoting a sustainable green economy. The main goal of this research is to identify and analyze the main factors which help or pre-vent the promotion and development of a PPA, in order to meet the sustainability goals by promoting a green economy. For this research survey based on comparative analysis, questionnaires and interviews with energy experts, Spearman’s correlation matrix and IBM SPSS Statistics for Window are also used. The results suggest that although there are positive interest and an open attitude towards the PPA from both sides (sellers and buyers), but there is still place for improvement, the lack of knowledge or the insufficient measures taken so far being two of the reasons way until now in Romania we do not have a developed PPA market and the level of knowledge regarding this type of mechanism is quite low.