ENERGY
We provide independent and impartial renewable energy consultancy and implementation solutions ranging from –
Large scale solar – Ground mount or commercial roof mounted installations, carports and fully funded solutions.
Battery Storage – Scalable solutions for new renewable projects or additional storage for existing systems.
EV Infrastructure – Integrated with your wider energy strategy and renewable energy provision.
Wind & other renewable solutions – We assess the optimal system for your needs and circumstances, if wind is a more viable than solar we can help you find the right solution for you.
The Business Case for Commercial Solar
Despite the absence of the feed-in-tariff incentives which spurred the surge of solar installations across the country, there are still very good reasons for businesses to invest in solar as a means of cost reduction in energy consumption. Energy prices continue to rise and the market remains volatile. For many businesses daylight hours energy consumption remains their primary energy expense.
Save money on your Energy Bills with
fully-funded Solar
Power Your Business with Fully Funded Solar
Lewis Nicholls is a leading renewable energy provider, committed to helping businesses achieve energy price stability and cost savings through innovative solar solutions. We specialise in Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), a financing option that allows you to harness the power of the sun without any upfront capital expenditure.
How Does PPA Funding Work?
With a PPA, Lewis Nicholls takes care of everything. We work closely with our expert partners specialising in design, installation, finance, and maintenance to provide the right infrastructure for your bespoke solar photovoltaic (PV) system on your rooftop or suitable land. You simply purchase the electricity generated at a predetermined, discounted rate compared to your current grid supplier. This guarantees long term cost savings while reducing your carbon footprint.
Why consider PPA funded Solar?
Instant Energy Savings: Reduce your energy bills right away.
No Initial Investment: Start without any upfront costs. Locked-in Electricity Rates: Fixed electricity prices for 10-25 years.
Optimised output: We will make sure your install performs its best.
Zero Maintenance: No need to worry about upkeep or administrative tasks, we take care of everything.
Advance Your Sustainability Goals: Contribute to Net Zero targets and enhance your ESG performance.
End of term benefit: At the end of the term the Solar PV system is transferred to you at no cost, ensuring that you benefit from many more years of solar energy and full ownership of your system.
Ideal business premises for PPA Solar Installations
Our PPA solutions are a perfect fit for a wide range of commercial properties with suitable roof space or land
If you’re not sure if your premises are suitable, don’t hesitate to contact us
Our team can assess your specific needs and determine if solar power is a viable option for you.
Worked Examples
How does this actually work for different businesses in real terms? Here are some contextual examples for different sectors –
School (off-site example)
A large private / academy school has an annual electricity bill of £700,000 The cost of the electricity from the grid at a rate of 24p/kWh. There is no on site land available to accommodate a solar installation as this is all taken up with recreation area, however a neighbouring land owner has land available to install the development and would receive an annual rent for the solar to be erected on his land and delivered via a physical private wire.
The appropriate system size is 3MW. This will provide 75% of the school’s electricity requirement. Working with us the funder will undertake planning and will secure land agreements. This is at zero cost to the institution. The agreed price for energy with the funder is 14p/kWh resulting in a saving of circa £270,000 in the first year.
Agricultural
You are a poultry farmer that has an electricity bill circa £80,000 a year.
Your tariff of electricity with your provider is £0.30p/ kwhr
Your roof space can accommodate 280Kw of solar that will accommodate 75% of the sheds overall electricity.
In this scenario the PPA would be set at 0.15p /kwhr (index linked) for 20 years.
The first year savings would be circa £37,000 .
Manufacturing
You own and run a large manufacturing business, your current electricity charge is £0.28/kwhr Your annual electricity bill is circa £275,000 a year. After reviewing your half hour data usage and roof space available, we calculate that a 700 kw roof mounted solar system would deliver the best value to you.
We would then engage you via ourselves with the funder of the PPA together with a local EPC contractor /delivery partner to undertake a roof and existing electrical infrastructure survey at your premises . In this scenario we would recommend a 25 year PPA at a price of £0.13p/ kwhr (index linked ).
The electricity produced by the solar panels covers of your electricity consumption. This would equate to around a saving of £98,000 in the first year on your used electricity. You get to keep the equipment at the end of the 25 year term, it is fully insured, maintained and serviced during the 25 year period.
PPA is a great choice, but there are other financing options to consider as well
Asset finance or lease
Spread the capital cost over time while retaining the energy savings. A common route for businesses managing cashflow.
Outright purchase
Businesses with available reserves can buy the system directly. Full ownership from day one, with payback currently around 5 years. This demonstrates an excellent commercial investment with optimal ROI.
Why use Lewis Nicholls?
Over 50 years of collective experience in the renewable energy sector
With our experience specifically in the commercial renewable energy sector, we understand commercial needs and processes. Unlike smaller residential installers, we have detailed experience in the planning, financial modelling, securing investment and project management of commercial projects.
Consultative approach to our work
All of our projects are specifically designed and delivered to meet the actual needs of your business. It’s unfortunate in this market that we need to emphasise this point, but not all companies work to this constraint and often inflate costs by oversizing the specification of the installation. We will work with you and apply a value engineered design approach to your project.
Strong values around local business and community
We are not a faceless national company, but a local company based in East Anglia with strong ties to the local community. This gives us not only a strong community spirit, but also furnishes us with unique understanding of the local marketplace. This helps us in many ways to provide a better service to local customers.
A specialist company only providing commercial solutions
We don’t offer residential solar or any other electrical services. We are a specialist company offering a very specific service to businesses. We aren’t a spin-off from an electrical installation company and as such have sole focus on delivery and support to our commercial customers. You have our undivided attention throughout planning, installation and right through to ongoing support of your live system.
Experts in the field
We currently have projects of over 120 megawatts currently in planning and build. These comprise mostly of large scale field based solar installations. Our expertise in large scale projects, is driven down into all of our projects regardless of their size and output.
Partners
We collaborate with other industry leaders to deliver the right solution for each project’s specific needs.
Consultancy
We offer a broad range of tailored services to your individual requirements. We have no product affiliation and as such we offer impartial and independent advice to all our customers. We can advise on Solar PV, Biomass and Heat pumps for commercial large-scale residential and new green build projects.
Feasibility assessment
What might seem like a great opportunity on paper isn’t always as straightforward in reality. We will take a lot of the risk away with a thorough feasibility study. We will explore areas such as – Return on investment, Income potential, Payback timescales, Integration, Planning, Energy saving, Carbon impact, Project cost and contingencies.
Energy Efficiency
We provide energy efficiency services to help you reduce your business energy costs and increase your profit. These include energy audits and we can identify opportunities which will reduce your current spend and potentially generate new revenues.
Planning
We provide planning services for renewable energy projects and work with local planning authorities and conservation officers to ensure you obtain the right planning permission. Planning applications for renewable energy can be complicated and unintuitive; we will demystify the process and make sure you benefit from our years of experience.
System design and build
We are not only experienced consultants and planners but capable system designers and implementers. We install many renewable energy systems in commercial, agricultural and large-scale residential environments. We also provide effective support and maintenance.s.