Energy and related services

Tender description

Bristol City Council is seeking to appoint a strategic partner to form a long term corporate joint venture with the Council, the City Leap Energy Partnership, to provide and secure low-carbon energy-related investment and expertise to deliver City Leap’s Strategic Objectives. The City Leap Energy Partnership will provide opportunities for the development, construction, and financing of low-carbon energy-related projects and delivery of associated services to assist with meeting Bristol’s carbon neutrality targets and potentially those of other Local Authorities in the South West region. In May 2018, the Council released the City Leap Prospectus (http://www.energyservicebristol.co.uk/prospectus/) as part of a soft market testing exercise, 180 expressions of Interest were received from a wide range of organisations. Following an internal options appraisal a recommendation to establish a joint venture company with a strategic partner (which could be a consortium of organisations) was made to and approved by the Council’s Cabinet on 2 April 2019. The Council is embarking on a process to appoint a strategic partner to form a long-term joint venture with the Council, the City Leap Energy Partnership, in order to secure substantial low carbon infrastructure investment and delivery capability. As part of its role in the City Leap Energy Partnership, in addition to providing finance and investment for the City Leap opportunity, the strategic partner will be expected to provide commercial support and technical expertise to assist with the origination, development, delivery and facilitation of low carbon energy-related assets and services. It is anticipated that these services may be provided to public bodies other than the Council across the South West region. The Council is seeking a strategic partner who is willing to work in partnership with a broad range of organisations, including those working in Bristol’s community energy and sustainability sectors as well as other public bodies, to facilitate the delivery of low carbon energy projects on a city-wide and, potentially, regional basis. It is anticipated that the City Leap Energy Partnership will comprise a joint venture company with potentially two immediate subsidiaries: 1) Bristol Energy Ltd – which, as well as being an energy supplier, will provide project origination, delivery and operation (but not ownership) of energy assets; and 2) An asset-owning structure/fund vehicle — which will hold shares in asset-owning SPVs (those SPVs will, in turn, own the assets deployed under City Leap – existing and future). The structure of the City Leap Energy Partnership (including subsidiaries, formal corporate linkages, funding structures and governance arrangements) will be developed in conjunction with bidders during the tender process, particularly in relation to the nature of asset-owning structures and any associated investment fund that may be proposed by the bidders during the process or is linked to for the purpose of providing investment funding for City Leap. The Council will consider proposals to enhance the initial model outlined above provided that these proposals meet the Council’s key criteria and deliver City Leap’s Strategic Objectives. Further information will be provided to bidders on these matters during the tender process. The Council expects to play an active role in delivering City Leap, including the contribution of certain low carbon energy-related assets (e.g. the Council’s wind turbines and solar assets), and the provision of opportunities for the City Leap Energy Partnership to access the Council’s estate (e.g. land and buildings) for the purposes of delivering low carbon energy-related projects. It is anticipated that other local authorities in the South West region may play a similar role in contributing both assets and opportunities. The Council currently expects that the method of admitting the Strategic Partner into the City Leap Energy Partnership will be for the Strategic Partner to invest in a 50 % share of the City Leap Energy Partnership, whereby potential bidders will take into account the value of the assets and opportunities expected to be contributed by the Council at the outset of the partnership when establishing the value of their bid for a 50 % share of the City Leap Energy Partnership. Further information on all aspects of the opportunities and services will be provided in the procurement documents.