Soft Market Test for the appointment of a Delivery Partner to deliver the Peterborough Integrated Renewables Infrastructue (PIRI) Project

Tender description

Peterborough City Council (the Council) recognises that the adverse impact of climate change is significant, and that urgent action needs to be taken. The Council has therefore committed to ambitious decarbonisation targets, including taking action to make the Council’s activities net zero by 2030 and to help Peterborough become a net-zero carbon city by the same year. Peterborough is one of the cities in DESNZ’s Heat Network Zoning (HNZ) Pilot. Zoning maps for Peterborough can be found via the following links. The map identifies 53GWh of potential mandatable demand in the immediate area of PIRI and over 200GWh across Peterborough: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/heat-network-zoning-maps The Peterborough Integrated Renewables Infrastructure (PIRI) project is a pivotal step for the Council to achieve its ambitions. The project started in 2019 with an initial heat mapping and masterplan study, which demonstrated the significant benefits of establishing a network that would utilise Peterborough’s Energy Recovery Facility (PERF) to deliver low carbon heat and electrical power to businesses and showed how it could be viable. The project scope includes both a heat and power network and EV charging provision and the Council will act as customer for both heat and power. The Council has agreed a number of objectives for the PIRI project, the headlines ones being as follows: • Support the net zero ambitions for the Council and the City by significantly reducing carbon emissions through PIRI activity. • Provide an ongoing viable delivery model for the heat and power networks, for which the Council’s contribution is limited to: i) the identified capital contribution of £13.5m GHNF funding ii) the heat produced by the PERF, subject to compliance with the subsidy control regime ii) the provision of electricity, at a price to be agreed between the Council and its PIRI partner. Peterborough City Council is inviting organisations interested in partnering with the Authority to deliver the services and meet the objectives of the PIRI project, to review the Soft Market Test Brief. The purpose of this exercise is to enable potentially interested organisations, with appropriate expertise and relevant experience, to provide their thoughts on the project before it is launched to the market. Following receipt of the SMT Briefing the Council will engage in one to one meetings with organisations which it believes have appropriate expertise and experience to deliver the project. Organisations interested in viewing the Soft Market Test Brief should contact the City Council using the Contact Details above by no later than 17:00, 1st November 2024. Please note that the Soft Market Test does not constitute a call for competition to procure any services for the Council and the Council is not bound to accept any proposals offered. The Council is not liable for any costs, fees or expenses incurred by any party participating in the soft market test exercise. Any procurement of any services by the Council in relation to this Soft Market Test, will be carried out strictly in accordance with the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. Lot 1: Peterborough City Council (the Council) recognises that the adverse impact of climate change is significant, and that urgent action needs to be taken. The Council has therefore committed to ambitious decarbonisation targets, including taking action to make the Council’s activities net zero by 2030 and to help Peterborough become a net-zero carbon city by the same year. Peterborough is one of the cities in DESNZ’s Heat Network Zoning (HNZ) Pilot. Zoning maps for Peterborough can be found via the following links. The map identifies 53GWh of potential mandatable demand in the immediate area of PIRI and over 200GWh across Peterborough: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/heat-network-zoning-maps The Peterborough Integrated Renewables Infrastructure (PIRI) project is a pivotal step for the Council to achieve its ambitions. The project started in 2019 with an initial heat mapping and masterplan study, which demonstrated the significant benefits of establishing a network that would utilise Peterborough’s Energy Recovery Facility (PERF) to deliver low carbon heat and electrical power to businesses and showed how it could be viable. The project scope includes both a heat and power network and EV charging provision, and the City Council will act as customer for both heat and power. The Council has agreed a number of objectives for the PIRI project, the headlines ones being as follows: • Support the net zero ambitions for the Council and the City by significantly reducing carbon emissions through PIRI activity. • Provide an ongoing viable delivery model for the heat and power networks, for which the Council’s contribution is limited to: i) the identified capital contribution of £13.5m GHNF funding ii) the heat produced by the PERF, subject to compliance with the subsidy control regime iii) the provision of electricity, at a price to be agreed between the Council and its PIRI partner iv) Support to secure land for the energy centre