Power purchase agreement compliance that recalculates every IPP's availability from plant data, with the PPA's own wording
Pay IPPs exactly what the PPA says: every shortfall recalculated and claimed in time.
See one case, screen by screen ↓A single-buyer utility pays each independent power producer a capacity charge for being available and an energy charge for what it generates, under a 20–25-year PPA with long schedules of definitions. The IPP declares its own availability, codes its own outages and invoices every month. The buyer checks it in spreadsheets, months later, against plant logs it rarely receives in full. Whether an outage counts against the IPP — a forced outage, a planned outage that overran its window, dispatched capacity not delivered — turns on words like “Grid System Event” and “Planned Outage Window”, often changed by an amendment the settlements team never saw.
In India, the regulator and the appeals tribunal have held that capacity charges follow declared availability whether or not the buyer schedules the plant, so the buyer's only protection is to check every declaration against what the plant could actually do. And the notice windows are short: under the sample PPA the buyer has 30 days after the contract year to notify a shortfall, or the claim is waived. A shortfall found late is a claim lost, and a capacity charge paid on capacity the plant could not deliver is never recovered.
Estimated split for one PPA's contract-year true-up and its month's invoice, in working days, by hand and with the solution.
Six specialist agents read the PPA, recalculate from plant data, check invoices and draft notices; the contract manager confirms.
Lumina Utilities buys power from Qamar Bay CCGT, an 1,800 MW combined-cycle plant, under a PPA dated 12 Mar 2019 and amended by Amendment 2 on 18 Jun 2024. Contract Year 4 ended on 30 Sep 2026, and Qamar Bay has declared 95.3 % availability against a 95.0 % guarantee. Today is Tue 13 Oct 2026. Here is what happens, screen by screen, in the working solution.
Noura owns five PPAs: 4,650 MW and 60 MIGD, AED 2.04B of capacity payments a year. Qamar Bay's ledger lists 63 obligations read from 214 pages, each with its contract threshold, the measured value, a 12-month trend and the penalty or bonus so far. Clause 11.3 is open in place: what the contract says, what the plant data shows, and what follows.
“1 guarantee breached. AED 1,565,148 to recover. Notice due at Qamar Bay by Fri Oct 30 · 17 days.”
The contract reader read the PPA, Schedules 6–7 and Amendment 2 and used the amended Schedule 6 para 3.5. The plant data reconciler matched 8,760 hourly declarations with the event log, dispatch log, meters and grid frequency: 4 events differ. The availability calculator applied clause 1.1, 10.4 and Schedule 6 paras 3.5 and 3.7. Pressing Run again replays it: the row falls from 95.3 % to 94.6 % and the damages count up.
“Schedule 7 para 2: 0.40 points × AED 3.0M · AED 1,200,000”
The availability page shows all 365 days of Contract Year 4 as a calendar: available, derates and forced outages as coded, the approved planned outage, dispatched-not-delivered hours, recoded outages and late starts. Below it, the four events where the contract reading differs from Qamar Bay's: the GT-12 trip, 612 dispatched hours not delivered, the GT-11 outage overrun and 9 late synchronisations — 61.3 equivalent hours in all.
Result, contract reading: 94.60 % · 473.0 of 8,760 hours unavailable · shortfall 0.40 points
Qamar Bay coded the GT-12 trip as a Grid System Event. Clause 1.1 needs a dispatch instruction to reduce output, or system frequency outside 49.5–50.5 Hz. The control-centre dispatch log, with Omar on shift, has no instruction to Qamar Bay from 12:00 to 24:00; frequency stayed between 49.96 and 50.03 Hz; the plant event log shows fuel gas control valve FV-1204 failed closed at 14:20:07. Under the contract it is a forced outage.
Plant event log: “14:20:07 FV-1204 fuel gas control valve position fault · 14:20:09 GT-12 trip, flame out”
For each disputed event Noura can switch the reading between the contract and the IPP. Accepting Qamar Bay's coding of the GT-12 trip alone gives 94.76 % and AED 731,963 of damages, and the September deduction falls to AED 1,097,111. Only the contract manager may override a coding; she resets to the contract reading.
“Each event is read with the contract wording as amended. Accept Qamar Bay's coding on any event to see what it would cost.”
INV-QB-2609 claims AED 78,527,388. The settlement checker recomputes each line: the capacity charge falls by AED 365,148 because the Jul 14 test showed 1,772 MW and the retest only passed on Sep 15 (28 MW × 14 days × AED 931.50); energy matches the revenue meters; fuel is billed at the guaranteed 6,950 kJ/kWh; 6 start-ups match the dispatch log. With the AED 1,200,000 set off under clause 18.6, the amount to pay is AED 76,962,240.
“The settlement checker never approves a payment. Karim Saleh in Finance approves; the deductions go with their evidence.”
Notice LU/PPA/QB/2026/117 is drafted on Lumina Utilities' letterhead, addressed to Qamar Bay's Managing Director and sent by courier and email as clause 27.2 requires. Each paragraph carries a margin note with its source — the amended Schedule 6, the hourly data, the event and dispatch logs — and 14 exhibits are enclosed. The clock shows 17 days until the notice must reach Qamar Bay.
“Contract year ended Sep 30 · clause 11.3(d): a late notice waives the claim”
Noura confirms the calculation, recorded in the audit trail. Leila Farouk's Legal review returns with no changes at 10:58. Because the notice is over AED 1M, Rami signs it with his password and the meaning of his signature, at 11:20. Only then can it be sent.
Meaning of signature: “I approve this notice under clause 11.3(d)”
If Qamar Bay disputes the calculation, clause 29 gives 30 days for senior executives to meet, then expert determination within 45 days. The pack is already built: a chronology from the exhibits, 14 exhibits each from a source record, AED 1,565,148 at stake, the strongest point and the weakest. The precedent: in Contract Year 3 the expert upheld the same clause 10.4 reading, and AED 640,000 was recovered.
Weakest point: “Late starts: 2 of 9 within 5 minutes of the limit”
Clause 12.1 guarantees a net heat rate of 6,950 kJ/kWh with a 1.5 % band. The corrected measurement is 7,031 kJ/kWh, +1.17 %, so fuel is still paid at the contract heat rate and there is no penalty. The ledger marks it Watch and offers to warn Noura before it crosses.
“At this drift the band is crossed in about 4 months.”
The same contract year, seen by the five people who carry it — what their month looked like, and what it looks like now.
Six specialist agents read the PPA, recalculate from plant data, check invoices and draft notices; the contract manager confirms.
Reads each PPA, schedule and amendment into an obligations register with the threshold, formula, measurement window, notice clause and page, applying each amendment to the clauses it changes.
Matches hourly declarations with plant event logs, dispatch instructions, revenue meters and grid frequency, and lists the hours where they disagree, grouped into events.
Applies the contract definitions — clause 1.1 and Schedule 6 as amended — to compute availability, forced outage hours, derates and the damages or bonus, showing every step of the arithmetic.
Checks every invoice line against the recalculated values, the tariff, indexation, meters and tested capacity, and prepares the debit note.
Drafts notices in the Purchaser's template under the clause that gives the remedy, with the amounts, the deadline and the exhibits, before the notice window closes.
Assembles the chronology, exhibits, earlier determinations and the clause trail for a claim that may be disputed, with its strongest and weakest points.
Confirms; Legal reviews; Director signs; Finance pays. The agents propose; a named person decides.
Ask about any PPA, clause, invoice or penalty — or say what to change. Every answer points to its clause and its records.
Why is our availability lower than Qamar Bay declared?
Four events are coded differently from the contract. The biggest is the Aug 18 GT-12 trip: Qamar Bay coded it a Grid System Event, but there was no dispatch instruction and frequency stayed 49.96–50.03 Hz, so clause 1.1 makes it a Forced Outage. With the GT-11 overrun, 612 under-delivered hours and 9 late starts, that is 61.3 equivalent hours: 94.6 %, not 95.3 %.
What do we deduct from the September Qamar Bay invoice?
AED 1,565,148. AED 1,200,000 of availability damages (0.40 points × AED 3.0M), set off under clause 18.6, and AED 365,148 of capacity charge for Sep 1–14, when tested capacity was 1,772 MW. Energy and fuel match the meters and the contract heat rate.
Will Qamar Bay win if they dispute the GT-11 overrun?
Unlikely. Clause 10.4 treats any time past the approved window as Forced Outage, and the expert upheld the same reading for Contract Year 3 on 12 Jan 2026. The weakest point in the pack is the late starts: 2 of the 9 were within 5 minutes of the 30-minute limit.
Warn me before any heat rate drifts into a penalty
Done. New rule: warn when a heat rate drifts more than 1.0 % above its guarantee, before it reaches the contract band. Qamar Bay is at +1.17 % today against a 1.5 % band; at this drift it crosses in about 4 months. You can change the rule in Settings.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
Tolerances, approvers, notice clocks and data sources are settings, chosen by Power & Water Purchasing for its own portfolio.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Availability alert margin | 0.2 points | Any margin, in points — alerts when availability is within this of the guarantee |
| Heat-rate watch | 1.0 % | Any share of the contract band, before it is reached |
| Invoice difference to flag | AED 10,000 | Any amount, per invoice line |
| Energy against meters | 0.05 % | The difference allowed between invoiced energy and the revenue meters |
| Approvals | Coding override: IPP contract manager | Notice review: Legal counsel · Notice over AED 1M: Director, Power & Water Purchasing · Payment release: Finance, settlements |
| Notice clocks | From each PPA | Qamar Bay CCGT: 30 days after contract year (clause 11.3(d)) · Ras Kadeer IWPP: 45 days after contract year (clause 11.7) · Wadi Sahm Peaking: 21 days after quarter (clause 8.6(c)) |
| Warn before a deadline | 10 days | Any number of days before a notice must arrive |
| Rules applied on every run | On | Flag any outage coded as a Grid System Event without a dispatch instruction · read a planned outage past its approved window under clause 10.4 · check deemed energy against plant irradiance |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample contracts and plant data (AED 1,565,148 = AED 1,200,000, 0.40 points × AED 3.0M, plus AED 365,148, 28 MW × 14 days × AED 931.50) · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate of where the days go · “typical” = published figures (Profit / Pakistan Today, Sep 2024: Pakistan's capacity payments run at about Rs 139–150bn a year; PIDE, “IPPs and capacity payments”: “hardly any monitoring” of availability against capacity payments). Regulatory context: CERC order 115/MP/2019 (GKEL v. GRIDCO) and APTEL, MB Power v. UPPCL (reported Feb 2025), hold that capacity charges follow declared availability. Lumina Utilities, its IPPs, plants, contracts and the people named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
Software that checks what an IPP is owed against what its PPA actually says. Power Purchase Agreement Compliance turns each PPA into a clause ledger — every obligation with its threshold, the value recalculated from plant data and the penalty or bonus so far — and checks every invoice line. The IPP contract manager confirms; Legal reviews and the Director signs.
The plant data reconciler lines up the IPP's hourly declarations with plant event logs, dispatch instructions, revenue meters and grid frequency, and groups the hours where they disagree into events. The availability calculator then reads each event with the contract's own definitions, as amended, and shows every step of the arithmetic with its clause.
By the PPA's own formula. In the sample PPA, Schedule 7 para 2 charges AED 3,000,000 per percentage point below the 95.0 % guarantee, capped at 10 % of the annual capacity charge. Qamar Bay recalculated at 94.60 % gives 0.40 points × AED 3.0M = AED 1,200,000, set off against the September invoice under clause 18.6.
Yes. The settlement checker recomputes each line — capacity, energy, fuel, start-ups and damages — from the contract tariff, the meters and tested capacity, and explains every difference with its clause and source. It prepares the debit note but never approves a payment; Finance does.
Each PPA's notice clock is a setting — 30 days after the contract year for Qamar Bay, 45 for Ras Kadeer, 21 days after the quarter for Wadi Sahm — and the solution warns 10 days before a deadline. The notice drafter drafts the notice under the right clause when a threshold is crossed; in the sample case it was ready with 17 days to spare.
The solution reads it against the definition. In the sample case Qamar Bay coded the Aug 18 GT-12 trip as a Grid System Event, but the dispatch log had no instruction and frequency stayed between 49.96 and 50.03 Hz, so clause 1.1 makes it a forced outage. A rule flags every such outage on every run.
Yes. The agents read contracts and plant data read-only, recalculate and draft, and never decide. Only the IPP contract manager overrides how an event is read, Legal reviews every notice, the Director signs notices over AED 1M, and Finance releases payment. Every step is on the audit trail.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your PPAs and amendments, notice templates, and a past contract year's declarations, plant data and invoices — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on one of your own PPAs first.
We'll run Power Purchase Agreement Compliance on one of your PPAs and a past contract year's plant data.