Renewable energy developers are under pressure. After years of steady cost reductions, the sector now faces rising input prices, higher financing costs, and intensifying competition. At the same time, wholesale power prices are stabilizing, while capture prices remain structurally lower due to cannibalization effects in markets with a high-RES adoption rate. As a result, many developers are seeing their margins erode—some even turning negative in certain markets such as offshore wind in Germany.
Yet within this challenge lies untapped opportunity. BCG’s latest research reveals that developers can reclaim lost value and strengthen competitiveness by focusing on commercial excellence. By professionalizing commercial functions and shifting from individual asset projects to an asset portfolio approach, developers can unlock up to €11 per MWh in additional margin.
We have identified three main levers with substantial optimization potential:
- Firming renewable output into premium green baseload products, enabling developers to deliver predictable, customer-aligned power at a premium price
- Reducing imbalance costs through advanced forecasting, analytics, and portfolio diversification both technologically and geographically
- Targeting premium less price-sensitive offtakers, such as hyperscalers, retailers, and telcos with a higher willingness to pay
Together, these levers can transform renewable developers from passive generators into active, customer-centric providers of green electrons. But to realize this additional value potential, pure play developers must evolve their operating models by becoming “commercial asset optimizers”. This will allow developers to catch up with integrated energy companies who are capable of marketing portfolios rather than individual assets, and therefore able to offer structured PPA products by trading power on the market.
Commercial excellence will define the next era of renewables. As cost-based advantages diminish, the ability to extract value through smart commercialization becomes a decisive differentiator. The leaders of tomorrow will be those who combine technical performance with commercial sophistication. Developers that act now can capture significant upside—those that don’t risk falling behind in an increasingly crowded market.
This paper outlines a clear roadmap for developers who aim to advance their operating model to achieve commercial excellence by breaking it down into five actionable key development areas.