10MWp+ PPA (utility-scale) — UK 2026 indicative cost & PPA tariff

2026 indicative numbers

System size	10MWp+ PPA (utility-scale)
Indicative capex (cash)	£6.5m+
PPA tariff (year 1)	£55–£75/MWh indicative (5.5–7.5 p/kWh)
Annual generation	9,500,000 kWh
Indicative annual saving	£1,045,000+ (vs 24 p/kWh grid)
Typical audience	Investment-grade corporates, retailers, banks, tech operators with TCFD commitments — typically corporate or virtual PPA structures.
Off-taker requirement	Investment-grade rated; 10-15 year contract

Grid import benchmark: 21–25 p/kWh for Medium to Extra Large non-domestic consumers (all-band average 24.14 p/kWh). Source: DESNZ Quarterly Energy Prices, table 3.4.2 (including CCL, excluding VAT), Q1 2026, published 30 June 2026. Re-verified 1 September 2026.

Utility-scale changes the instrument entirely

Above 10MWp the on-site rooftop model largely gives way to something closer to wholesale procurement. Deals from £6.5m up are usually structured as corporate PPAs (CPPAs) or virtual PPAs rather than an array on your own roof, and they are priced the way generators price — in pounds per megawatt-hour. A fixed £55–£75/MWh indicative (roughly 5.5–7.5 p/kWh) against something like 9.5 million kWh a year is the kind of tariff only this scale unlocks.

Physical, sleeved or virtual

At this level the power rarely comes from one building. A physical corporate PPA draws from a dedicated solar farm; a sleeved PPA routes that generation to your sites through a supplier; a virtual, or financial, PPA settles purely as a contract-for-difference against the wholesale price, transferring the green attributes without moving electrons to you directly. Which structure fits depends on your sites, your supplier relationships, and how your treasury wants the risk to sit. Note too that under any PPA you do not own the asset, so capital allowances stay with the funder, not you.

Only investment-grade need apply

Generators and their funders will build megawatts on the strength of your signature, so the covenant is the deal. Off-takers here are typically investment-grade rated — retailers, banks, tech operators and large corporates with TCFD commitments — and terms commonly run 10 to 15 years, shorter than rooftop PPAs because the counterparties are stronger and the market more liquid. Balancing risk, REGO transfer and settlement mechanics all demand genuine treasury input.

• An investment-grade credit rating
• A 10-to-15-year contracted term
• Treasury comfortable with balancing and CfD settlement
• REGO transfer assigned to your consumption

Getting the structure and counterparty right

This is specialist territory. Contrast a corporate route with a utility one across our route-by-route comparisons, understand why credit dominates in the covenant primer, and see how large deals are financed under financing options.