Solar PPA for metals, foundries, glass & cement

2026 indicative PPA profile

Typical system size	500kWp-2MWp
Year-1 tariff	10-13 p/kWh
Year-1 saving	£80k-£350k
Parent sector	Factories & Manufacturing

Heavy, relentless demand — and a bill dominated by peak charges

Foundries, glassworks, cement plants and metal-processing sites carry some of the heaviest and most continuous electrical loads in UK manufacturing. Furnaces, induction heating, forced cooling and materials handling run day and night, and the resulting grid bill is shaped as much by network and capacity charges as by the units consumed. That is why solar here is rarely sized to cover the whole load. It is sized to shave the daytime peak and, increasingly, paired with battery storage to manage the expensive charging periods that dominate an energy-intensive site's cost base.

Solar plus storage for peak-charge management

A power purchase agreement covering the array — often with a co-located battery — lets these operations take the top off daytime demand without funding the equipment themselves. Because the underlying load dwarfs any realistic rooftop system, self-consumption is effectively total: every generated unit displaces a unit of grid import. Systems typically run 500 kWp to 2 MWp, with PPA rates of 10 to 13 p/kWh and savings of £80,000 to £350,000 a year. Our pricing guide explains why heavy, well-matched loads secure the keenest unit rates.

Energy-intensive status changes the sums

Some sites in this group qualify for Energy Intensive Industry Compensation, which shifts the relative value of grid import versus self-generation and should be modelled properly before any deal is signed. It is worth comparing a PPA against outright ownership in that light, especially where battery dispatch and peak-charge management form part of the case. The factory sector page sets these heavy-industry examples alongside lighter manufacturing so you can see where your own load sits.