Two Blues Solar has executed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for 120 sites owned by Marston’s PLC, while Nottingham Council’s Harvey Hadden Sports Village has completed the third phase of its rooftop PV install.
Renewable energy solutions provider Two Blues Solar, in partnership with installer Nuvolt, will deploy solar PV across 120 pub locations owned by Marston’s.
The £5.4 million initiative, fully financed by Atrato Onsite Energy, operates through a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA). Two Blues Solar acted as developer for the project, overseeing it and coordinating with all stakeholders.
Nuvolt, based in Cardiff, partnered with Marston’s to install an 87.73MWh rooftop solar PV array at Martson’s headquarters in May last year, stating at the time it had initiated PPA provisions.
The firm will handle the technical installation of this latest phase of the project, while Atrato Onsite Energy funds the rollout, retains ownership of the solar systems throughout the PPA term and monitors the solar panels’ performance.
The first phase of the 120 installations is expected to be completed by Q2 2026. Rollout began in January and the teams are completing 10 systems a month, working simultaneously across multiple sites at a time. Each solar PV installation is projected to meet 15-20% of the site’s energy demand.
Solar Power Portal asked Two Blues what the projected total capacity across the 120 sites would be and heard: “As each pub roof differs in size, pitch and orientation, the final aggregate capacity will only be confirmed once all sites are completed.
“However, based on Two Blues Solar’s engineering model, the average output per site is about 30,000 kWh. On that basis, the 120-pub portfolio is expected to deliver around 3.6 GWh of electricity per year, equivalent to roughly 4.2MWp of installed capacity.”
While PPAs are a well-recognised solar funding solution, they are not so well established across multi-site portfolios because it is harder to manage the complexity of ownership structures, administrative burdens and technical variations between sites.
Explaining this, Daniel Levine, co-founder of Two Blues Solar, said: “Many traditional PPA providers shy away from clients with fragmented estates due to administrative complexity. Our standardised framework simplifies deployment across hundreds of sites, offering Marston’s a single, predictable energy rate.”
‘UK’s largest’ solar-powered leisure centre complete in Nottingham
Harvey Hadden Sports Village, part of Nottingham City Council, has completed the third stage of a solar PV installation, bringing its generation capacity to 571.5kWp.
This total capacity was reached with the installation of a 307.58kWp system comprising 676 bifacial panels.
The project benefitted from over £449,000 support from Salix Finance, and the installation forms part of Harvey Hadden’s ambition to be a leader in renewable energy in the public sector.
It took the first step toward this goal in 2015 with the installation of a 67.2kWp solar carport, which at the time was the largest in the UK, covering 40 parking bays. The first phase of the roof-mounted PV system was installed in 2018.
Onsite solar generation at the leisure centre will meet 46% of its electricity needs. A total 74% of the energy generated by the PV system powers the building’s daily operations, and surplus solar is used to heat the swimming pool. This use means the centre did not install battery storage.
Lindum Group managed the project on behalf of Nottingham Council and worked alongside UK Alternative Energy and Empire Scaffolding GM Ltd to complete the installation.
