commercialsolarfinance.co.uk
Compare lease, asset finance and cash routes alongside PPA on the commercial solar finance hub.
Factories
380kWp PPA for an East Anglian Food Processor
A 380 kWp solar PPA at 12.0 p/kWh over 25 years delivers a year-1 saving of £44,000 for this factories client.
Anonymisation note
This is an anonymised composite based on three or more comparable UK PPA deals signed 2024-2026. Numbers are accurate to ±10% of real deals; site location and operator details are fictionalised.
| Deal summary | |
|---|---|
| Sector | Factories |
| System size | 380 kWp |
| PPA tariff (year 1) | 12.0 p/kWh |
| Contract term | 25 years |
| Year-1 saving | £44,000 |
A chilled-food processor, as a representative example
The account below is a representative composite, not a real named business. Set it in East Anglia: a prepared-chilled-food plant of some 18,000 m² pulling 5.2 GWh off the grid each year, where refrigeration forms an enormous, near-constant base load. Two facts shaped the funding decision. First, a major grocery customer had begun demanding Scope 1 and 2 disclosure from its suppliers. Second, the operator was a tenant with twelve years left on the lease and its available capital already earmarked for extra chilling capacity — so bolting owned solar onto someone else's roof made little sense.
Why sleeved beat on-site here
With roof ownership awkward and capex committed, an on-site build was the wrong tool. The route chosen instead was a sleeved PPA: the electricity is generated at a 4 MWp solar farm nine miles away and delivered through the site's electricity supplier under a sleeving arrangement. No survey, no rooftop works, no asset on a building the operator doesn't own. The mechanics of how off-site generation reaches a meter are set out in how a PPA works, and the on-site-versus-sleeved trade-offs sit in the comparison hub.
Deal terms and the friction points
Pricing was fixed at 12 p/kWh over a 25-year term. Two items needed working through before signing:
- A half-hourly metering upgrade costing about £8k, funded by the off-taker
- Balancing-risk allocation on the sleeve, which took six weeks to negotiate cleanly
Indicative result
The seed figures put first-year savings at £44,000, with a 100% renewable Scope 2 claim and the customer's sustainability scorecard rating climbing eighteen percentile points — a tangible commercial return, not merely a reporting line. Because the operator carries no asset, the funder holds any capital allowances. If a sleeved structure might suit a leased or multi-site operation of your own, weigh the options on the PPA financing page, then test them against your current supply contract.
Related to this PPA case study
Could a similar deal work at your site?
A 60-second form gives us enough to match your site to providers and return an indicative tariff comparable to this case study.
Get an indicative PPA tariff
Across the SEO Dons network
Finance routes
Grants & tax relief
Installer directory
More from the UK commercial solar advisory
solarpanelgrantsforbusinesses.co.uk
If you'd rather own the system, check live UK grant and tax-relief options on the grants directory.
commercialsolarpanelsinstallation.co.uk
Vetted MCS-accredited installer partners on the commercial solar installation hub.
Get a p/kWh figure for your own building
380kWp PPA for an East Anglian Food Processor — tell us about your site and we'll return an indicative p/kWh tariff for it. Reply by email within one working day.