Worked example: 380kWp PPA for an East Anglian Food Processor
An illustrative 380 kWp factories solar PPA: at 12.0 p/kWh over 25 years, the modelled year-1 saving is £44,000.
Illustrative example — not a real deal
This is a hypothetical worked example, written to show how a solar PPA's numbers work for this kind of site. The site, the operator and every figure are illustrative: the tariff and term sit inside this site's indicative bands and the saving is modelled from them. It does not describe any real organisation, and no contract is claimed.
| Worked example — modelled figures | |
|---|---|
| Sector | Factories |
| System size | 380 kWp |
| PPA tariff (year 1) | 12.0 p/kWh |
| Contract term | 25 years |
| Year-1 saving (modelled) | £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.
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