Worked example: 1.2MWp PPA for a Midlands 3PL Warehouse
An illustrative 1,200 kWp warehouses solar PPA: at 11.5 p/kWh over 20 years, the modelled year-1 saving is £164,000.
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 | Warehouses |
| System size | 1,200 kWp |
| PPA tariff (year 1) | 11.5 p/kWh |
| Contract term | 20 years |
| Year-1 saving (modelled) | £164,000 |
An illustrative Midlands distribution scenario
Take a third-party logistics operator running a 22,000 m² ambient warehouse close to the M1/M6 interchange — an anonymised, representative case rather than a named client. The building drew roughly 4.6 GWh a year on a 26 p/kWh contract, and its largest customer, a Tier-1 retailer, had set an end-2025 deadline for Scope 3 emissions disclosure. Cash for a seven-figure rooftop array was not available. That combination — a heavy, predictable daytime load, a hard sustainability deadline, and no capital — is exactly where a power purchase agreement earns its keep.
Structuring the 1.2 MWp deal
A specialist solar fund financed and owned a 1.2 MWp rooftop system, selling the electricity back at 11.5 p/kWh in year one under a 20-year term. The escalator was tied to RPI but capped at 2%, so the operator kept visibility over its future unit rate. Full operations and maintenance — inverter replacement included — sat with the provider, and the EPC contractor was pre-vetted before signing. Because the fund owns the asset, the capital allowances stay with the funder, not the off-taker; you can see how that ownership split shapes the numbers on the tariff and pricing page.
Why the covenant mattered
The retained retail contract — indicatively worth around £18m a year — was the reason the site could support a deal of this size. Providers price against the strength of the buyer, so a warehouse anchored by a blue-chip customer attracts a keener tariff than one on a rolling short lease. If your own site is weighing this up, the off-taker covenant guide explains what funders look for.
The indicative result — and the snags
First-year savings landed near £164,000, roughly a 3.6% margin improvement, and the REGO transfer underpinned a market-based Scope 2 renewable claim. Two practical points slowed delivery, and they are worth flagging:
- A survey found panel-bolt corrosion on the roof needing patch repair before install — about four weeks lost.
- The G99 grid connection took eleven weeks, longer than first quoted.
Neither derailed the project, but both are typical of large rooftop schemes; the full sequence is set out in how a PPA works.
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