Solar PPA for glasshouse / horticulture

2026 indicative PPA profile

Typical system size	200kWp-1MWp
Year-1 tariff	11-14 p/kWh
Year-1 saving	£25k-£130k
Parent sector	Farms & Agriculture

A bill dominated by climate control

Protected cropping is one of the most energy-intensive corners of horticulture. Glasshouses burn heat to hold growing temperatures through the colder months, and run supplementary lighting to extend the photoperiod for tomatoes, cucumbers, soft fruit and ornamentals well beyond natural daylight. Both loads are heavy, and both are increasingly met with electricity as growers move away from gas. That shift is exactly what makes on-site solar valuable here: the more of the glasshouse's heat and light that runs on power, the more of it a PV array can serve.

Solar and the heat-pump switch

The strongest case on a nursery pairs a PPA with electrified heating. Replace gas boilers with heat pumps and the glasshouse's largest single load becomes electrical; feed that from solar generation and the site can displace a large slice of its former gas use — in the order of 60–80% on a well-designed stack. Supplementary lighting helps too, because much of it runs through daylight shoulders and dull-day hours, soaking up generation on site instead of exporting it at a lower rate.

• A heat-pump retrofit converts gas demand into solar-servable load
• Lighting hours overlap the generation window on short winter days
• Thermal screens and buffer tanks help push demand toward daylight

Sizing and funding the array

Glasshouse roofs are glazed for the crop, so the panels usually sit on adjacent packhouses, boiler houses or a ground-mount rather than the growing area — comfortably supporting 200 kWp to 1 MWp. A power purchase agreement funds the lot and charges only for units used, at around 11–14 p/kWh, for a saving of £25k–£130k a year once the electrified heating and lighting loads are counted in. See how the agreement is structured, test the electrified-heating scenario in our savings calculator, and find related profiles on the farm solar hub.