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Bristol City Council approached LASER to assist in developing a more sustainable energy procurement strategy. LASER provided the council with an innovative compliant solution that enabled the Council to ‘sleeve’ electricity from their own renewable generation assets to power their own estate, while managing costs.

About Bristol City Council

Bristol City Council is a unitary authority with a committee system in place; it has a population of 465,900 and is the seventh largest English city outside London. It is a rapidly growing city, with a diverse population, a successful economy and a commitment to protecting the environment.

Bristol City Council renewable generation assets

The challenge

With the increased volatility of the energy markets, BristolCity Council (BCC) were looking to make changes to their energy procurement strategy. The council wanted to move away from committing to a fixed-term contract, where they were at risk of locking in energy supplies at high prices. Instead, they aimed to utilise renewable electricity from their wind turbines and solar farms to power their estates, manage costs, and take advantage of their low-carbon electricity supply. In early 2022, the council sought to partner with an energy expert to support all aspects of utility procurement, and provide expert guidance in the complexities of Power Purchase Agreements, which is why LASER were the perfect fit. LASER provided the council with an innovative compliant solution that enabled the Council to ‘sleeve’ electricity from their own renewable generation assets to BCC sites.

The solution

LASER already delivered flexible contracts for BCC’s gas and small electricity supplies through our fully compliant flexible energy frameworks. BCC felt it was the best option to use the flexible framework to secure a sleeving PPA arrangement because it saved time and cost on the tender process and allowed for a customised procurement strategy to meet their specific needs. Together, we worked with the council to streamline the complexities of PPAs and create a bespoke procurement strategy to facilitate a sleeved PPA, enabling the council to buy and sell their renewable power in a way that provides financial stability and control.

The LASER trading team manages the import of electricity to BCC sites and the export of electricity from BCC’s renewable generation assets. They take seasonal fluctuations into account and balance any consumption and supply mismatch. Currently, BCC’s generation assets supply approximately 85% of their half-hourly metered electricity demand, leaving a 15% shortfall. Our trading team covers the shortfall by purchasing energy from the grid through the PPA sleeving arrangement.

By using LASER’s flexible procurement framework, the council benefited from the following:

  • A flexible procurement framework that provided a quick and compliant route for BCC to secure a Power Purchase Agreement with a licenced supplier (Total Energy), sleeving renewable energy from their own generation assets to power their largest using sites, accounting for 85%.
  • Expertise in supporting strategy implementation.
  • 30 years experience in energy trading and more recently managing trading of several large public sector renewable assets in the UK.
  • Bespoke procurement strategy that tracks energy market average prices so that both import and export prices can be set at the same time and the same price, also allowing the shortfall to be managed via the wholesale market.

 

The results

Conclusion

Bristol City Council was one of the first to adopt a sleeving arrangement of this kind for a local authority, setting a new standard for local authorities and gaining recognition for its renewable supply solutions, facilitated by LASER’s innovative procurement solutions. Building on this success, LASER is continuously working with BCC to enhance the current Sleeved PPA arrangement by incorporating additional generation in the sleeving. This would allow more of BCC’s electricity demand to be met from other local zero-carbon electricity generation.

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