320 kW PPA Install on a 220-Room Chain Hotel near Heathrow

Modelled worked example — the figures below are built from sourced 2026 UK cost and generation benchmarks for a property of this profile, not a claimed client project.

The hotel

A 220-room mid-market branded chain hotel near Heathrow on a managed contract for a major international hotel group. Conference facilities, restaurant, 24/7 operation. Annual electricity spend £290,000. Brand parent pushing all UK properties towards on-site renewables as part of SBTi-validated 2030 commitments.

The brief

Deploy solar at scale across the available rooftop, zero capex from the freeholder, and integrate with the brand group’s property-level energy reporting platform. The brand engineering team needed to sign off on technical specification before procurement could commit.

The modelled system

318 kW rooftop array on the property’s main flat-roof accommodation block — 588 Tier-1 panels with central inverters and full brand-spec monitoring platform integration. PPA-funded with zero capex from the property freeholder; PPA tariff £0.092/kWh fixed with annual RPI uplift; 20-year contract. Operator captures the saving versus grid retail; management-fee adjustment shares portion of saving with freeholder.

Brand engineering approval modelled at 4 weeks — achievable when the installer already holds approval status with the brand group. G99 connection through UKPN granted in 9 weeks. Install on site over 6 weeks, with grid synchronisation scheduled for a low-occupancy Tuesday morning during a corporate-events lull.

The numbers at year one

• Annual generation: 295,000 kWh
• Self-consumption: 88%
• Year-1 saving: £71,000 (versus PPA tariff cost of £24,650 = net operating margin contribution £46,350)
• Capex from owner: £0
• LightStay (group monitoring platform) sustainability scoring up 14 points
• Corporate-events RFP win rate up 18% in following 12 months