Obligations that run for the whole term
Most PPA compliance work concerns the duties a power purchase agreement imposes after commercial operation begins, not the original negotiation. Sellers typically owe delivery or availability commitments, metering and reporting, and transfer of environmental attributes such as renewable energy credits through a tracking system. Buyers owe payment and credit support, and sometimes scheduling or offtake obligations. Regulatory requirements sit underneath the contract: depending on the market and the structure, a seller may need authority from FERC to sell at market-based rates and must follow the rules of the grid operator, which in New York is NYISO. A lapse on the regulatory side can quickly become a breach on the contract side.
Where disputes usually start
Curtailment is a frequent source of conflict, because someone bears the loss when the grid operator or the buyer limits output, and the contract has to be read closely to see who, and older agreements did not always anticipate how often that would happen. Shortfalls against committed output or availability, the calculation of damages, change-in-law clauses, and force majeure claims are other recurring issues. Keep meter data, dispatch instructions, outage logs, and every notice exchanged under the agreement, since PPAs usually require formal written notice to preserve a claim. Many agreements also set a negotiation or escalation step before arbitration or litigation can begin.
Reviewing your position
A compliance review starts with the agreement and its amendments, the credit support, and any lender consents, because financing documents often restrict what a project company may agree to. We compare actual performance and reporting against the contract terms and confirm that regulatory filings and registrations are current. Where a dispute has begun, we look first at notice requirements and cure periods, which can be time-sensitive. The acronym PPA is also used for the federal Pension Protection Act in retirement plan work, and if that is the compliance question in front of you, say so at the outset, because it is an entirely different body of law.
