Alight

A brighter brew: local solar power for Nestlé's Tutbury coffee factory. Construction is now underway on Alight’s private wire solar project next to Nestlé’s Tutbury coffee factory in Derbyshire. The project will generate renewable electricity locally and deliver it directly to Nestlé’s Tutbury factory under a joint Power Purchase Agreement. Once operational, the system will provide competitively priced renewable power. Local clean power, connected directly to industrial demand.

Alight has commissioned a 1.9 MWp behind-the-meter rooftop solar installation at ITP Aero’s Hucknall site in Nottinghamshire, UK. The system will generate around 1,600 MWh of renewable electricity annually and avoid approximately 310,000 kg of CO₂ emissions each year, delivering clean power directly to the plant under a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA). This project is part of Alight’s expanding UK portfolio of more than 50 MWp for commercial and industrial customers, helping energy-intensive industries cut both costs and carbon while strengthening their long-term energy security. At Hucknall, the installation supports ITP Aero’s group-wide target to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 65% by 2030. Financed through Alight’s £34 million UK BtM portfolio facility with SEB, the project showcases our ability to deliver multiple large on-site solar assets across the country and our commitment to accelerating the energy transition for industrial players. Full press release in comments.

At the Clean Power 2030 Summit, Rob Stait, Managing Director of Behind-the-Meter at Alight, spoke to Molly Green from Solar Power Portal UK about what's really driving businesses to adopt solar and storage. His take: policy pressure, high electricity prices and a fragile grid all play a part. But the biggest factor is businesses electrifying their processes and moving away from fossil fuels as their main energy source. Rob also spoke about government support, including the proposed expansion of BICS (the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme), which cuts electricity bills for energy-intensive manufacturers by exempting them from certain grid-related costs. Rob made the case that it should also cover the renewable electricity businesses generate themselves, not just what they buy from the grid, so it doesn't end up discouraging the very behaviour it's meant to encourage. Link to full interview in comments.

Last week at the Clean Power 2030 | UK Solar Summit in London, the focus was not just on new business models and financing, but on how to actually scale corporate solar in practice. Rob Stait, Managing Director at Alight BtM, spoke in the session “Designing a Scalable Corporate Rooftop & C&I Solar Roll-Out – Why pilots don’t scale”, sharing how multi-site portfolios can move much faster than one-site-at-a-time approaches and why technology is rarely the real bottleneck, internal execution is. Rob’s key message was that successful, scalable behind-the-meter solar and storage programmes start with clear objectives, a simple and protected scope, and a strong internal mandate. With the right partner that combines cross-market experience and local grid know‑how, corporates can move from isolated pilots to a portfolio approach that cuts energy costs, boosts resilience and supports long-term decarbonisation goals. At Alight, we support multi-site, multi-national corporates on this journey. Please reach out If you’re curious how this could work for your portfolio.

Alight’s Managing director, BtM (behind-the-meter), Rob Stait, is featured in AZoCleantech - The Online Clean Technology Community with a new perspectives piece “When the Grid Cannot Keep Up: The Rise of Behind the Meter Energy Systems”. In the article, Rob explains how BtM solar and battery storage are becoming critical tools for businesses facing grid bottlenecks, surging demand from AI and data centers, and the need for resilient, low-carbon power. He underlines that access to reliable electricity is now a strategic advantage, not just a sustainability goal, and that hybrid energy systems combining national grids with local generation and storage will be key to powering the next wave of digital infrastructure. Link to full article in comments ->

Europe's car parks are one of the most obvious untapped resources in the energy transition. Managing Director for our Behind-the-Meter business, Rob Stait, spoke to Euronews about why the case is so straightforward: car parks generate electricity without taking up additional land, and is built on infrastructure that already exists. Add EV charging into the same footprint and shade for drivers, and the benefits stack up quickly⚡ UK government estimates also suggest an 80-space car park could save around £28,000 a year on electricity bills by installing solar carports and using all the electricity generated. France, Slovenia and several German states have already legislated for it. The model is now viable at scale, with a strong case for the rest of Europe to follow. ➡️ Full article: https://lnkd.in/dmjR53wc