Marston's inks £5.4m deal to install solar panels on 120 pub rooftops

Marston's has partnered with Two Blues Solar and installer Nuvolt to deploy solar panels at 120 community pubs over the next year as part of a £5.4m rollout.

The project is to be fully financed by Atrato Onsite Energy and includes a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) through which Marston's will purchase 100 per cent of the renewable energy generated on its roofs, rather than owning the solar equipment.

The arrangement guarantees power prices for the pub chain for 25 years, protecting it from future energy market volatility while delivering immediate cost savings for the company.

The project will also contribute to Marston's sustainability strategy and net zero by 2040 targets, as each installation is expected to generate approximately 30,000 kWh of solar electricity a year, meeting up to a fifth of an individual pub's power demand.

The 120-pub rollout - which started in January and is expected to complete by the second quarter of 2026 - will reduce Marston's overall carbon emissions by 600 tonnes in the first year, equivalent to removing 430 cars from the road.

"As the UK's leading local pub company, we are committed to reducing our impact on the environment, as we work towards a greener future for our guests, our people and the communities we serve," said Andy Kershaw, director of investment at Marston's. "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."

The owner of popular chains Toby Carvery, Browns Restaurants, Harvester, and All Bar One, Mitchells & Butlers revealed last summer it has installed 100 solar arrays to date across its outlets, with hundreds more in the pipeline.

Marston's rollout will be managed by developer Two Blues Solar and installer Nuvolt, with multiple teams working to complete 10 systems a month.

Atrato Onsite Energy, which is funding the rollout, retains ownership of the systems throughout the terms of the PPA and will handle the ongoing monitoring of the panels .

"This is the first multi-site PPA rollout of its kind for a large pub chain in the UK," said Daniel Levene, co-founder of Two Blues Solar. "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 for 25 years - insulating them from market swings while removing upfront costs."

The announcement is in a series of good news stories for the UK solar industry , Ministers are planning to beef up the government's upcoming Future Homes Standard to ensure solar panels are installed on 99% of new build homes from 2027.