Accelerating affordable clean electrification: The case for tripartite agreements

The document proposes tripartite contracts to address high electricity prices and market volatility in Europe, which currently hinder industrial decarbonisation. By placing a public contracting entity between clean energy generators and industrial consumers, these agreements aim to provide long-term revenue certainty for developers and fixed price certainty for industries. The brief highlights that while technologies for low- to medium-heat processes are ready, market gaps and electricity taxation remain barriers. It notes that the European Commission is developing such agreements for offshore wind, grids, and storage, drawing on practices from Spain, France, and Italy.

• High electricity prices, driven by gas prices, network charges, and policy costs, act as a structural constraint on Europe's industrial competitiveness and its ability to decarbonise through electrification.
• Tripartite agreements utilize a public contracting entity to bridge the gap between supply and demand, providing long-term fixed prices for industrial consumers and revenue certainty for clean energy developers to finance new capacity.
• The tripartite model offers several specific benefits over standard Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), including the elimination of counterparty credit risk via state backing and the ability to pool demand to reduce 'shaping costs' associated with matching variable renewables to baseload demand.
• Significant barriers to electrification persist, most notably electricity taxation, which results in absolute costs per kilowatt-hour that are 2–3 times higher than those for natural gas despite similar proportional rates.
• The European Commission is currently developing tripartite agreements specifically for grids, storage, and offshore wind, with potential future extensions to nuclear energy, biomethane, and data center energy integration.

APA

Spokas, K., & Romm, L. (2026). Accelerating affordable clean electrification: The case for tripartite agreements. Clean Air Task Force. https://www.catf.us/2026/02/accelerating-affordable-clean-electrification-case-tripartite-agreements/

Chicago

Spokas, Kasparas, and Lea Romm. Accelerating affordable clean electrification: The case for tripartite agreements. Clean Air Task Force, 2026. https://www.catf.us/2026/02/accelerating-affordable-clean-electrification-case-tripartite-agreements/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Spokas |first1=Kasparas |last2=Romm |first2=Lea |title=Accelerating affordable clean electrification: The case for tripartite agreements |publisher=Clean Air Task Force |date=25 February 2026 |url=https://www.catf.us/2026/02/accelerating-affordable-clean-electrification-case-tripartite-agreements/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{spokas2026accelerating, author = {Spokas, Kasparas and Romm, Lea}, title = {{Accelerating affordable clean electrification: The case for tripartite agreements}}, institution = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2026}, month = feb, url = {https://www.catf.us/2026/02/accelerating-affordable-clean-electrification-case-tripartite-agreements/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }