ReFit – Covenant of Mayors Conference

Energy efficiency and clean energy generation will be high on the agenda of all public sector organisations as budgets tighten even further and the cost of doing nothing is rising. The ReFit programme helps make England and Wales’ non-domestic public buildings and assets more energy efficient.

Last week in Brussels, the European Commission’s Directorate-Generals for Energy and Climate Action and the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) collaborated with the Covenant of Mayors to host a seminar on financing climate adaptation, clean urban transport and energy efficiency at the operational level.

Local Partnerships was invited to speak alongside Cambridgeshire County Council’s Cherie Gregoire, Special Projects Manager of the Energy Investment Unit, to showcase a successful project funded by an EU grant. They delivered their ambitious programme via a Re:fit Energy Performance Contract.

Refit Energy Performance Contract model

Local Partnerships’ Re:fit Project Director Rachel Toresen-Owuor presented an overview of the Re:fit Energy Performance Contract model. She highlighted how public sector clients can deliver energy efficiency and energy generation projects across their estates and land holdings supported by expert advice throughout the project stages. 

A variety of key themes emerged from presentations throughout the day. These included: ease of access to facilitation support, standardisation of tendering and technical documents (including measurement of contract performance) and the ability to deliver scalable projects, all of which are elements of the Re:fit process.   

Cherie Gregoire said the council “is at the forefront of local authority energy investment with a programme of more than £20M in energy generation and energy efficiency projects in our schools and County Council assets. Cambridgeshire County Council have energy performance contracts covering more than 40 schools, 7 corporate buildings and with support from Contracts for Difference, built a 12MW solar farm at Soham, northeast of Cambridge. Altogether, these projects will save over £1.775 M per year and avoid the release of over 8,400 tonnes of CO₂ per annum.

“Cambridgeshire County Council is developing a pipeline of innovative projects that addresses the intersection of energy and transport, as well as energy and waste, including a Smart Energy Grid using land at a County-owned park and ride. Cambridgeshire County Council is already applying the lessons learned on that project to other park and ride locations around the busy city centre. While providing tried and tested energy savings solutions, they aim to test new approaches, replicate them and share the learning.”

The National Re:fit programme is a true public sector procurement collaboration, bringing benefits across the public sector through a fast and effective competitively tendered and OJEU advertised framework. This initiative is for public bodies wishing to implement energy efficiency and local energy generation measures to their estate, with support to assist the development and delivery of their schemes. It provides a guaranteed 100% of the energy saving or generation (kWh) via a contractual agreement for the payback period of the project. No property is out of scope as long as the public organisation owns the asset or pays its utility bills.

The cost of doing nothing is rising. For organisations considering energy efficiency improvements to their buildings, the money for a successful project is already available – it is the money currently spent on wasted energy. 

Re:fit – Energy Savings: Guaranteed. For more information please contact:

England:
Rachel Toresen-Owuor
Project Director, Re:fit
Mob: 07825 963 218
Email: rachel.toresen-owuor@localpartnerships.gov.uk
London:
Sylvia Baron
RE:FIT London Programme Director
Tel: 02079 834 239
Mob: 07825 907 541
Email: sylvia.baron@london.gov.uk

Wales:
Tristan Oliver
Mob: 07702 422 860
Email: refitcymru@wales.gsi.gov.uk
Glyn Mountford
Mob: 07843 421 712
Email: refitcymru@wales.gsi.gov.uk