---
id: "action-contract-optionality"
type: "action-item"
source_timestamps: ["§ The Incumbent's Energy Playbook", "¶13"]
tags: ["procurement", "contracts", "hedging"]
related: ["claim-incumbents-need-energy-access", "prereq-corporate-energy-procurement"]
speakers: ["Yinuo Tang", "Eric Yanfei Zhao"]
action: "Sign VPPAs, green tariffs, and bilateral contracts specifying energy exposure and compute availability."
outcome: "Protects the company's AI cost curve against regional power price increases and grid delays."
sources: ["futures"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-futures"
originDay: 2
articleStem: "hbr-nm-101-energy-strategy-ai"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/06/your-company-needs-an-energy-strategy-for-ais-next-phase"
sourceTitle: "Your Company Needs an Energy Strategy for AI’s Next Phase"
---
# Secure long-term energy optionality via contracts

## Action
Sign VPPAs, green tariffs, and bilateral contracts specifying energy exposure and compute availability.

## Detail
Non-hyperscalers should utilize:
- Long-term **power-purchase agreements (PPAs)**
- **Virtual power-purchase agreements (VPPAs)**
- **Utility green tariffs**
- **Colocation capacity reservations**

Ensure bilateral cloud or data-center contracts **explicitly specify energy exposure and compute availability** to hedge against regional power price spikes and interconnection delays. Requires the procurement knowledge in [[prereq-corporate-energy-procurement]].

## Outcome
Protects the company's AI cost curve against regional power price increases and grid delays — the "contract for optionality, not ownership" logic of [[claim-incumbents-need-energy-access]] and Step 3 of [[framework-incumbent-energy-playbook]].


## Related across articles
- [[action-stage-gate-capital]]
- [[action-secure-energy]]