Pub giant Martson’s is about to serve greener pints as 120 of its sites are set to install rooftop solar.
Marston’s has done a deal for a new kind of PPA with Two Blues Solar and installer Nuvolt, to deliver rooftop solar, backed by £5.4 million in funding from Atrato Onsite Energy.
The deal is a game-changer for how Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) are deployed across fragmented portfolios of small sites.
While PPAs have become a staple for large factories and single-site businesses looking to decarbonise, they’ve remained largely out of reach for operators like Marston’s – where hundreds of individually structured, varying properties make standardisation a headache.
Ownership models differ, meter arrangements vary and each building presents unique technical challenges.
Two Blues Solar has cracked the code. By developing a flexible but scalable model, the team has created a PPA framework that simplifies commercial terms without ignoring the quirks of each location.
This unlocks solar for pub chains and retailers that have long struggled to cut through the red tape.
Under the deal, Atrato finances, owns and maintains the solar systems, while Marston’s buys 100% of the energy generated on-site at a fixed price for 25 years.
This shields the business from market volatility and delivers immediate savings, all with zero capex.
Andy Kershaw, Director of Investment at Marston’s said: “Through this partnership, we can now significantly accelerate the rollout of solar across our community-based pub estate without diverting capital from our core operations, which will help our pubs make the transition to renewable energy while reducing our total emissions and reliance on fossil fuels.”
Installations have started with up to 10 pubs fitted each month. The rollout is expected to wrap by spring 2026.
Each system will generate around 30,000 kWh a year – enough to meet 15-20% of a pub’s electricity demand – cutting Marston’s carbon footprint by 600 tonnes annually.
This project shows that with the right partners and structure, even highly diverse small-site portfolios can go solar at scale.
