Axpo has concluded its first virtual Power Purchase Agreement with Belgium's public sector, winning a competitive tender from the Flemish energy agency veb to supply six public organisations with onshore wind energy over a decade.

The agreement, announced on 27 August 2026, marks a significant milestone for the Swiss energy company's operations in the Belgian market and represents a broader effort to extend long-term renewable energy instruments to institutions that have historically lacked access to such tools.

Structure and Scope of the Agreement

The virtual PPA runs from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2036 and will deliver an expected annual volume of approximately 45.5 gigawatt-hours. The renewable electricity at the heart of the deal comes from Belgian onshore wind generation, sourced through a long-term collaboration between Axpo and Belgian wind energy producer Elicio.

Rather than delivering electricity directly to the participating organisations, the arrangement follows a standard virtual PPA model in which the wind project sells its output into the market while the financial contract provides settlement and transfers guarantees of origin as verifiable proof of renewable sourcing.

A notable structural feature of the deal is a mechanism designed to reduce exposure to periods of negative day-ahead prices, which Axpo says is intended to protect the commercial structure of the agreement and improve its resilience under volatile market conditions.

Guarantees of origin are included in the contract, providing the six public entities with documented evidence that their electricity consumption is backed by renewable generation.

Six Public Organisations Across Key Sectors

The participating organisations span a range of public-sector functions, including education, infrastructure, healthcare, water, local government, and public transportation.

By aggregating demand from these multiple institutions, Veb has been able to create the scale necessary to make a long-term renewable energy contract viable for entities that would not typically have the purchasing power to access such arrangements individually.

Veb, formerly known as Vlaams Energiebedrijf nv, operates as an externally autonomous agency of the Flemish Government and functions as a central purchasing body for the Flemish public sector.

The agency supports governments, schools, and hospitals in managing their energy use and advancing their energy transition through procurement, expert guidance, and integrated services. Its stated mission includes contributing to a climate-neutral Flanders by 2050.

Expanding Access Beyond Large Industrial Consumers

Jasper Verhaeghe, Price and Market Analyst at veb, described the agreement as a step toward democratising an instrument that has long been associated with large industrial energy users.

He said the agency's role as a central purchasing body allowed it to create economies of scale and pool expertise on behalf of its clients, enabling them to pursue both sustainability ambitions and long-term price certainty simultaneously.

The deal highlights a growing trend in the energy sector toward extending corporate-style renewable procurement mechanisms into the public sector, where budget constraints and procurement regulations have traditionally made such arrangements more difficult to structure.

By acting as an intermediary and aggregator, veb has provided a pathway for smaller public institutions to participate in a financial instrument that requires significant counterparty scale to be commercially attractive.

Axpo's Position in the Belgian Market

For Axpo, the veb deal represents the first virtual PPA delivered by its Belgian team and the first time the company has entered the country's public-sector energy procurement market.

Axpo is Switzerland's largest energy producer and describes itself as an international leader in energy trading and the marketing of solar and wind power, operating across more than 30 countries in Europe, North America, and Asia, with a workforce of approximately 7,500 employees.

Jeremiah Tops, Senior Originator at Axpo, said the agreement demonstrated how tailored energy solutions could help public organisations advance sustainability goals while managing price risk over the long term. He also noted the role of power purchase agreements more broadly in supporting the energy transition.

Decarbonisation Goals and Long-Term Price Visibility

The agreement is explicitly framed around supporting the decarbonisation of electricity consumption across the participating Flemish public organisations. The ten-year duration of the contract is intended to give those organisations greater certainty over energy costs, insulating them to a degree from the price volatility that has characterised European electricity markets in recent years.

The inclusion of guarantees of origin means the organisations will be able to demonstrate the renewable credentials of their electricity use in line with increasing regulatory and institutional expectations around sustainable procurement in the public sector.

The veb deal follows other recent activity by Axpo in European energy markets. In August 2026, the company announced an LNG bunkering partnership with Vitol at Italy's largest cruise port and issued a USD 124.1 million bond.

In late July, Axpo and Zelestra announced a battery energy storage project in Italy. The Belgian vPPA adds a renewable procurement dimension to that run of transactions, with Axpo pointing to its market structuring expertise as central to making the public-sector deal viable.

Powering Smarter Decisions Across Belgium's Power Sector

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