Solihull Town Centre Low Carbon Energy Network

QMPF was engaged by Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council to provide a financial model and draft the Financial Case of the Outline Business Case (“OBC”) for a proposed low carbon district energy centre in Solihull town centre. The OBC and financial model were developed to assist the Council in appraising the scheme options and to support their successful £6.6m HNIP funding application. The project is now at the commercialisation stage.

The proposed scheme will utilise a combination of gas-fired CHP and air source heat pumps to provide heat and private wire electricity to customers over multiple network expansion phases. The first phase of the project will provide heat and electricity to a mix of public and private sector loads, with subsequent phases covering private sector loads and planned developments in the area.

QMPF developed a bespoke financial model for the scheme which underpinned the Financial Case of the OBC. We worked with the appointed technical advisers (Sustainable Energy Limited) to deliver a base case financial model and also conducted sensitivity analysis to quantify the financial impact of project risks and presented this in the Financial Case.

QMPF’s role also included participating in commercial structuring discussions with the Council, attending an optimism bias workshop alongside Sustainable Energy Limited and supporting Sustainable Energy Limited on the financial model related elements of the HNIP funding application for the project.