Riverside Retail Park: 400kWp Bristol PPA + Canopy
Case study: 400kWp Bristol multi-tenant retail. Solar canopy + PPA, zero net capex, 58% grid import reduction across 12 units.
The site
A Bristol retail park with seven units (three big-box, four mid-box) and 240 parking spaces. The anchor tenant occupies 38% of floor area and signed a 20-year lease in 2022. Combined park electricity demand was 1.1 GWh/year across all tenants.
The brief
The asset manager wanted PV across the park but the multi-tenant lease structure complicated funding. Service charge optimisation was attractive but the energy benefit needed to flow primarily to the anchor tenant. The brief: design a structure that worked for both the asset manager and the anchor tenant.
What we did
Hybrid structure:
- Rooftop PV (320 kWp) funded under a 20-year PPA between the funder and the anchor tenant. Power feeds via private wire to the anchor tenant’s distribution board. Tenant signs the off-take.
- Solar canopy (80 kWp) over 32 customer parking spaces, funded by the asset manager from cash with Full Expensing applied. Canopy electricity feeds common-area service charge, reducing service charges for all tenants. Customer amenity (covered parking) is the soft-value contribution.
- Two separate energy contracts, two separate metering arrangements, two separate billing flows.
The numbers
- Anchor tenant rooftop PPA: £0 capex, 6.1p/kWh tariff, 20-year term
- Asset manager solar canopy: £80,000 capex, £20,000 Full Expensing relief, £60,000 net cost
- Combined annual savings (anchor tenant + service charge): £56,000
- Asset manager portion of savings (canopy only): £11,500/year
- Payback equivalent (asset manager): 5.2 years on the canopy capex
What happened
Commissioned September 2024. Customer feedback on covered parking has been positive — the canopy is now used as a marketing asset for the park. The park’s BREEAM In-Use rating improved from “Very Good” to “Excellent” largely as a result of the renewable generation.
Why it worked
The split structure — PPA for the rooftop, cash for the canopy — let each part of the project find its right funding route. Trying to PPA the whole project would have been painful because the canopy economics don’t work as well in a PPA structure. Trying to cash-fund the rooftop would have triggered capex pressure on the asset manager. The hybrid let both pieces proceed.
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