EDF Renewables UK has signed corporate power purchase agreements with Tesco and BAE Systems for Stranoch, an 84 MW wind farm under construction in south west Scotland. Corporate wind contracts are signed in the UK every month. This one carries something the others almost never do: a price.
Key takeaways
- EDF Renewables UK signed corporate power purchase agreements with Tesco and BAE Systems for the 84 MW Stranoch wind farm in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, announced on 29 May 2024, and Enerdatics records a tariff of $43.37 per MWh.
- Tesco's agreement covers enough clean power for the equivalent of more than 80 average-sized supermarkets for a year, while BAE Systems' agreement meets about 40 percent of its current UK energy demand.
- Of 27 UK wind PPAs Enerdatics records between January 2023 and June 2025, Stranoch is the only one with a disclosed tariff, and 19 disclose a duration, ranging from two to 16 years.
- EDF Business Solutions will provide power balancing and shaping for Tesco and BAE Systems alongside the energy supply, so the buyers receive power matched to their demand rather than the raw output of the turbines.
- Stranoch will have 20 Vestas turbines across three models, is expected to operate by late 2026 and will pay more than £500,000 a year into a community benefit fund over a minimum 30-year life.
Why would a supermarket and a defence contractor share a wind farm?
Because neither of them needs all of it, and both need the same thing from it. A corporate PPA is a long-term contract under which a company agrees to buy electricity from a named generator. For a buyer, a wind farm under construction offers new capacity it can point to, which matters to companies setting decarbonisation targets. For the generator, splitting the output across two creditworthy buyers spreads the risk of a single customer.
The two buyers want different volumes for different reasons. Tesco is buying a slice sized in supermarkets. BAE Systems is buying enough to cover about 40 percent of its current UK demand, which supports manufacturing programmes such as the Type 26 frigates. Leap does not record the capacity or annual energy assigned to either contract, so the split of Stranoch's 84 MW between them is not public.
What does EDF add between the turbines and the buyers?
It turns an intermittent supply into a usable one. Wind farms generate when the wind blows, not when a supermarket's fridges or a shipyard's machines need power. Balancing is the job of matching supply and demand in each settlement period, and shaping is the job of converting a variable generation profile into a delivery pattern the buyer can use. EDF Business Solutions will do both for Tesco and BAE Systems, alongside facilitating the energy transfer.
That service is why EDF appears on both sides of the UK market in Enerdatics' records. In August 2023 EDF signed a seven-year agreement to buy the output of Brockwell Energy's 220.5 MW North Kyle wind farm. In August 2024 it bought power from Alpha Real Capital's 13.5 MW Rigmuir wind farm and signed a PPA with Coveris for the same farm. In July 2024 it agreed a three-year supply of about 113 GWh a year of wind and solar power to Whitbread. EDF buys output from generators, adds balancing and shaping, and sells a firmer product to corporate customers. At Stranoch, EDF is the supplier as well as the service provider.
What does a disclosed tariff tell the market?
Less than it seems, but more than anything else on the table. Enerdatics records the Stranoch tariff at $43.37 per MWh. Leap does not record whether that price is fixed, indexed or applies to both contracts, nor how long either agreement runs. A single data point without its structure cannot set a benchmark on its own, and it should not be read as one.
It is still the only one. Enerdatics records 27 UK wind PPAs announced between January 2023 and June 2025, and Stranoch is the only one with a disclosed tariff. Nineteen disclose a duration. Four run for 15 years, one for 16 and one for 14, among them Capital Dynamics' 33.6 MW Pines Burn contract with Sainsbury's. Six run for 10 years, including RWE's London Array agreement with five co-operatives. Seven run for between two and seven years, mostly utility offtakes such as SSE's two-year deal for Aikengall I. The market discloses how long a contract lasts far more often than what it pays, a pattern Enerdatics has also seen in German offshore wind, where duration is the one term buyers reliably reveal.
Retailers are a visible buyer group in that set. Sainsbury's has signed two UK wind PPAs since late 2023, for Longhill Burn and Pines Burn. Five regional co-operatives signed for London Array in 2025. Tesco joins them through Stranoch, while tech buyers such as Amazon have been taking larger slices of offshore projects, including two separate deals for Moray West.
What does the deal signal for UK corporate wind PPAs?
That the utility in the middle is becoming part of the product. A company like Tesco is not equipped to manage the gap between when a Scottish wind farm generates and when its stores consume. A seller that can absorb that gap, through its trading and supply arm, can sign corporate buyers that would otherwise struggle to take wind power directly. EDF is offering the turbines, the balancing and the supply contract as one package.
It also points to where pricing visibility will come from, if it comes at all. The two-sided contracts that dominate the UK market rarely publish terms, and the one that did here is a bundled contract from a vertically integrated seller. The same model runs through other UK deals, such as the two contracts linking Gresham House's Devon solar farm to Workspace, where Statkraft sits between generator and buyer.
The project itself is conventional in every other respect. Stranoch sits between New Luce and Barrhill in Dumfries and Galloway. Its 20 Vestas turbines mix V150 6.0 MW, V136 4.5 MW and V117 4.3 MW models. Local contractors RJ McLeod and I&H Brown are building it, with Powersystems UK handling the high-voltage electrical work. Construction started shortly before the contracts were announced, and the farm is due to operate by late 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Who is buying power from the Stranoch wind farm? Tesco and BAE Systems, under corporate PPAs with EDF Renewables UK announced on 29 May 2024. EDF Business Solutions will also provide balancing and shaping services to both buyers.
What price did EDF agree for Stranoch's power? Enerdatics records a tariff of $43.37 per MWh. The contract structure and duration were not disclosed, so the figure should be read as a single reference point rather than a benchmark.
When will the Stranoch wind farm start operating? Construction began in 2024 and the 84 MW farm is expected to be operational by late 2026, with a minimum lifespan of 30 years.
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