How UK
Businesses
Access Solar
With Zero
Upfront Cost
A solar PPA lets your business access clean energy with zero upfront cost. Eden Sustainable has structured 300+ agreements across the UK
Key Takeaways
A solar PPA lets your business buy the electricity from panels on your roof at a rate below the grid price, without buying the panels.
Eden Sustainable installs, owns, insures, and maintains the system for the full contract term.
Our PPA rate is typically 30–40% below current grid electricity prices, fixed for the duration of the agreement.
The contract runs for 25 years. At the end, you can take ownership, extend, or have the system removed.
We have structured over 300 commercial solar agreements across the UK. Every installation is backed by £300 million of dedicated in-house funding through AMPYR Distributed Energy.
What Is a Solar PPA &
How Does the Contract Work?
A solar power purchase agreement (PPA) is a long-term electricity supply contract. Eden Sustainable installs and owns a solar PV system on your roof or land. You agree to buy the electricity that system generates at a pre-agreed rate, below what you currently pay the grid. You never own the panels. You simply pay for the power they produce.
The rate is fixed for the life of the agreement, with a small annual escalation to account for inflation, typically between 2% and 3% per year. Even accounting for that, the rate stays well below forecast grid electricity prices throughout the contract term.
Three things make a PPA different from buying solar outright:
No capital required
No maintenance
No performance risk
The contract specifies the installation address, the agreed rate, the escalation terms, and the minimum offtake requirement (the percentage of the electricity your site will consume). Our legal team uses pre-approved, market-tested templates that have been through hundreds of commercial transactions, so the process is straightforward.
"Two years later, we've got 3.75MW on four of our sites, two very happy tenants and a double-digit return on our investment!"
Peter O'Brien-Ward, Financial Director of Landlink Estates
What Does a Solar PPA Cost?
The PPA rate is agreed before installation and is set at a discount to the current grid electricity price, typically 30% to 40% lower. The exact figure depends on your site, your consumption profile, and the system size.
There is no upfront cost. No deposit. No mobilisation fee.
The annual escalation clause is the only variable. It is stated clearly in the agreement and capped. We do not use market-indexed escalators. The rate you agree on day one is the foundation every future year is calculated from.
What you will not pay for, ever, during the contract term:
Installation or commissioning capital costs
Inverter replacement
Panel cleaning or structural inspections
Monitoring system upgrades
Insurance
We cover all of it. The PPA rate is the only financial obligation.
How Does the Installation Process Work?
The journey from initial conversation to first unit of solar electricity typically takes between 14 and 20 weeks. Here is how it runs:
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Site assessment. We survey your roof structure, orientation, shading, and grid connection. No cost, no obligation.
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System design and financial modelling. We produce a generation estimate and a projected savings figure based on your actual consumption data.
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Contract review and signing. Our legal team shares the PPA documentation. You review it, take legal advice if you want to, and sign.
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Grid application (G99 where applicable). For systems above 50 kW, we submit the G99 application to your Distribution Network Operator. We manage this entirely.
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Installation. Our delivery team installs the system, typically within four to eight weeks of contract execution.
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Commissioning and handover. The system is commissioned, connected, and monitored. You start buying cheaper electricity.
Gardner Aerospace l Solar PPA l 1.26 MW
What Happens at the End of the PPA Term?
The standard contract runs for 25 years. At the end of that period, you have three options:
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Take ownership. You can buy the system at a nominal end-of-term value, after which the electricity it generates is free.
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Extend the agreement. If you want to continue the arrangement on new terms, we can renew the PPA.
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Have the system removed. We remove all equipment and reinstate the roof at no cost to you.
Most of our clients choose ownership at end of term. A 25-year-old commercial solar system will still generate electricity. Panel degradation runs at approximately 0.5% per year, so after 25 years the system is still producing around 88% of its original output.
Free electricity from existing infrastructure is a straightforward decision for most.
Sofina Foods l Solar PPA l Multi-site install l 2.27 MW
How Does a Solar PPA Affect Your Balance Sheet?
A PPA is classified as an operating expense, not a capital purchase. There is no asset on your balance sheet, no depreciation charge, and no debt. Under current UK GAAP and IFRS accounting standards, a properly structured solar PPA does not meet the definition of a lease under IFRS 16, because you are buying electricity, not securing the right to use an identified asset.
That matters for Finance Directors and CFOs whose capital budgets are committed elsewhere. The PPA delivers cost reduction without consuming CAPEX headroom or triggering borrowing covenants.
It also means no impact on your asset-to-liability ratio. When Eden owns the system, it sits on our balance sheet, not yours.
For clarity: your auditor will form their own view on classification based on the specific contract terms. We recommend discussing the draft agreement with your finance team before signing.
What Evidence Do We Have That This Works?
Forthglade, the British pet food manufacturer based in Devon, operates a large cold-fill production facility with significant refrigeration loads. We installed a rooftop solar array on their site under a fully funded PPA. The system now covers a meaningful share of their electricity demand, delivering both cost reduction and a verifiable reduction in their Scope 2 carbon emissions, a direct contribution to their published sustainability commitments.
Forthglade was subsequently nominated for a British Renewable Energy Award. The nomination was based in part on this project.
Forthglade l Solar PPA l 875 kWp
Elsewhere, Huntapac Produce, Xtratherm Unilin, Faltec Europe, and Uniserve have all had systems installed under Eden Sustainable PPAs. These are not similar cases. They are different sectors, different roof configurations, different consumption profiles. A manufacturer running three shifts has a fundamentally different energy demand curve from a logistics hub that peaks in early morning. The PPA structure, and the system design that sits beneath it, is modelled to the specific site.
That site-level modelling is where most decisions get made correctly or incorrectly. We run it on real consumption data, not industry averages.
Why Does the Funding Matter?
The company providing your PPA owns the solar system on your roof for 25 years. That is a long time. The financial strength of your PPA provider is not a secondary consideration.
Eden Sustainable is a wholly owned subsidiary of AMPYR Distributed Energy (ADE), a global infrastructure investor with £300 million allocated specifically for solar installations across the UK. That funding is in-house. We do not need to seek third-party investors for each project, which is why our process moves faster than many competitors, and why we can commit to projects with confidence.
AMPYR's balance sheet backs every PPA we sign. When you enter a 25-year agreement with Eden Sustainable, you are entering it with a capitalised infrastructure business, not a project-finance vehicle that depends on refinancing to survive.
Solar PPA or Self-Funded Solar:
Which Is Right for Your Business?
A solar PPA is the right structure when your priority is immediate cash flow improvement without capital deployment. It is also the right structure when your capital budget is committed to core business investment and solar does not compete for it.
Self-funded solar (CAPEX purchase) delivers a higher long-term financial return. If you own the system, you own the electricity it generates for free after payback, typically around year seven. CAPEX also qualifies for full expensing capital allowances under current HMRC rules, which reduces the net cost significantly in year one.
The honest answer is that the right choice depends on your capital position, your tax position, and your time horizon. We can model both routes for you, with your actual consumption data and your current electricity tariff, so the comparison is based on your numbers rather than a generic illustration.
We do not have a financial incentive to push you toward one structure. We offer both.