Solar energy

Tender description

The Department for Education (DfE) Direct Sourcing programme aims to deliver capital expenditure, operational cost and carbon emissions savings for the new and existing school estate. These details will also be accessible to all schools. The DfE is seeking to embark upon a programme of energy management and consultation, including but not restricted to, solar panel installations across its estate with types of schemes being considered include installation on existing and new buildings. DfE is looking to engage with potential suppliers/contractors to design, build, operate and maintain solar panel installations by setting up a 4 year framework, with a number of lots and providers. The aims of this project are better detailed in the description section, but in brief we are looking to better understand the procurement models, data around costs involved, power generation and grid export, risks and experiences related to large scale implementation, preferably within a school/college community. The Department for Education (DfE) Direct Sourcing programme aims to deliver capital expenditure savings for new and existing school estate. Our commercial vision is to ‘drive reductions in capital expenditure by leveraging bulk buying gains, establishing long term mutually beneficial relationships and a greater visibility of true cost’. Our aims are to: — reduce energy demand, — increase/improve efficiency of systems and technologies, — procuring value for money and clean energy. The DfE is looking to set up a 4 year solar framework that aims to manage the impacts of a rapidly changing energy sector and it will also look to take advantage of new market opportunities to reduce operational costs and/or generate revenue from its assets and seek to consistently reduce its carbon impact. Changes in the energy sector offer the potential to add value to the existing education assets — its properties. To do this at any strategic scale would require a very large investment commitment that will not be considered without robust evidence of project operation and return and a realistic assessment of the risks involved in a dynamic marketplace. Thus, the DfE is interested in undertaking market engagement with potential suppliers and installers to understand views on Design and Build (DaB), operation and maintenance of solar panel installations, risks, the potential lotting strategies, contract structures and the delivery of social value. The aims of this project are designed to achieve the following: — understanding of procurement models, — provide data about the costs of investment and operations, — experience of large-scale implementation within a school/college community, — provide data on power generation, storage, discharge and grid export, — gain an understanding of risks and how these can be mitigated, — produce market data on the revenue generation potential based on the data working with a range of market intermediaries. The DfE is particular keen to engage with SME and is fully committed to the SME agenda, including the government’s commitment to work with organisations who generate social value and will strive to work closely with organisations who uphold the strong social values that are vital to the country’s well-being and economy. We will be holding ‘Supplier Surgeries’ on the 21st and 22nd of November at DfE’s Sanctuary Buildings in London SW1. We are offering 45 minute slots for potential suppliers to come along and meet the team to engage and discuss Solar DaB, lotting strategies, smart grids, costs, learning from your experiences along with the potential risks and installation strategies. Each supplier will be offered a separate session. Please do register an interest as we are keen to hear views to help shape the tender. Interested parties are invited to contact DfE via email at Capital.PROCUREMENT@education.gov.uk for further details about how to register your interest, and if you wish, book yourselves in to attend one of the ‘Supplier Surgeries’. Slots will be allocated on a first come — first served basis and will be limited to a maximum of 3 persons per supplier.