In order to provide a clear structure and set of consistent language we have gathered a suite of cases studies that have driven our understanding of what a local energy project is, who is involved and what the outcomes are.
Resource
In order to provide a clear structure and set of consistent language Net Zero Go has gathered a suite of cases studies that have driven our understanding of what a local energy project is, who is involved and what the outcomes are.
Net Zero Go is evidence based. We work with a wide range of potential users to gather requirements, best practice and use cases.
Elements that make up a case study
There are a number of sections within the case study that drive the data workflow within the toolkit and also the content within the Plan of Work.
Benefits
Benefits are the societal good that the projects achieve. There are currently 6 categories of benefits within the toolkit. These are aligned with the Ashden Climate action co-benefits toolkit.
The categories are as follows. The full list of benefits for each category are available in Net Zero Go.
Benefits within the case studies (and in general) should have clear actions that achieve the benefits and a measurable outcome.
| Benefit Category | Description |
|---|---|
| Resilience | Actions that increase the ability of the local energy system to deliver robust services while adapting to the Net Zero transition |
| Equity and social | Actions that create a fairer society and ensure the energy transition is just and equitable |
| Net Zero | Actions that reduce carbon emissions in line with Net Zero targets |
| Financial | Actions that generate revenue, capture monetary value or reduce expenditure |
| Health and wellbeing | Actions that create more healthy buildings, spaces, services or environment |
| Economic opportunity and job creation | Actions that provide local jobs, training and enterprise opportunities that increase the capacity and capability to deliver Net Zero and create growth in the local economy |
Interventions and Archetypes
Interventions are the activities that a project uses to achieve its benefits and outcomes. These are independent of any particular technology or solution. They are a way of grouping potential options into a higher level story so that a clear expression of the type of actions and outcomes that are trying to be achieved.
The current list is shown below. This is under constant review as new case studies are identified.
| Improve air quality |
| Increase local renewable generation |
| Increase performance of building stock |
| Increase performance of vehicle fleet |
| Increase access to low carbon heat |
| Increase access to low carbon mobility |
Assets
Assets are the physical things that are acted on by the interventions. They cover a range of physical types, ownership models and archetypes. They come in 4 major types, and each type has a set of archetypes associated with it. Each type has a number of ownership models available.
Types and archetypes
| Domestic property | Detached |
| Flat | |
| Semi-detached | |
| Terrace | |
| Non-domestic property | Agriculture |
| Arts and community | |
| Education | |
| Emergency services | |
| Factory | |
| Health | |
| Hospitality and retail | |
| Office | |
| Sport and leisure | |
| Transport and storage | |
| Vehicle | Bike |
| Bus | |
| Goods or service vehicle | |
| Taxi | |
| Van | |
| Car | |
| Land | Agriculture |
| Arts and community | |
| Car parking | |
| Education | |
| Emergency services | |
| Landfill | |
| Sport and leisure | |
| Transport and storage |
Ownership models for assets
| Commercial |
| Community |
| Crown |
| Municipal |
| Owner occupied |
| Private |
| Privately rented |
| Social |
Components
Components are the pieces of a project that deliver the agreed impacts. The components below are derived from the case studies. Components are categorised by theme, and these theme categories are listed below.
The full list of current components can be found in component costs and revenues activity.
Component categories (themes)
| Infrastructure and assets | Assets that are available or need to be available in order to enable the project (for example power networks, substations, vehicles, buildings) |
| Technology and vectors | Enabling technologies and energy pathways that are required to deliver the project (for example heat pumps, vehicle charge points, smart controls, hydrogen technology) |
| Users, consumers and citizens | Activities that inform, enable or consult local people and system users (for example a public consultation, helpline or informational website) |
| Organisations, actors and decisions | Organisations and people involved in delivering a product, system or other component, through governance, decision making, resource capacity or capability |
| Commercial and business | Commercial elements that enable, contract or share value with the project (for example special purpose vehicles (SPV), value sharing, business models) |
| Operation and control | Any activities that provide support or control for ongoing operation of the project for example; monitoring, a service helpline, Building Management System (BMS) system. |
| Policy and regulation | Enacting or enforcing policies or regulation to achieve benefits (for example congestion charging, energy efficiency enforcement for landlords) |
| Digital information | Data, services or methods that are in the digital domain and require data transfer, storage or processing can be considered components in the digital information category. Examples would be a local asset GIS dataset or data collection of performance |
| Interoperability and compatibility | Systems or activities that enable components to be interchangeable and work with each other (for example common charging standard, choice of open protocol or interaction with other operational services) |
Financial information
The case studies capture high-level performance data in terms of cost, revenues, internal rates of return (IRR) and payback. The template can also capture project performance per year over the lifetime of the project.
They also capture the funding and financial sources aligned with the content of the Plan of Work activity funding and investment options.
Financing and funding types
| Financing Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Cash/direct investment | The council can use its own funds through cash or direct investment to finance a project |
| Subsidies or incentives | Subsidies come in various forms including direct (cash grants, interest-free loans) and indirect (tax breaks, insurance, low-interest loans, depreciation write-offs, rent rebates) |
| Asset sale and land development | Local areas often own undeveloped land which can be used to raise funds to invest in infrastructure |
| Equity | Private investors can provide equity financing by buying capital shares of a project |
| Energy performance contract (EPC) | Energy performance contracting (EPC) represents a type of contractual arrangement that transfers the financial risks to a third party, usually called an energy service company (ESCo) |
| Privatisation/ as-a-service agreements | Under an energy-as-a-service contract, a local authority pays for a service (for example hours of light) to an energy service company (ESCo) |
| Public-private partnership (PPP) | Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are long-term contracts where the project functions (such as operations, financing and construction) are transferred to the private firm |
| Revolving fund | A revolving fund is a fund set up for specified purposes with the concept that repayments to the fund may be used again for these purposes |
| Private sector loan | Commercial loans are lent by private banks and other financial institutions (for example insurance companies, pension funds) |
| Crowdfunding | Debt, equity, donation-based crowdfunding and community municipal bonds (CMBs) are all forms of crowdfunding that a local authority can use to finance Net Zero projects |
| Municipal green bonds | Bonds are fixed-income securities that can be issued by a local authority to obtain debt funding for green projects |
| Risk mitigation/ guarantee | The most commonly used risk mitigation mechanisms are guarantees (for example risk guarantees and credit guarantees) as well as risk insurance (for example political risk insurance) |
| Grants | Grants are non-repayable funds disbursed by the government or international financing institutions, and the eligibility criteria are always defined by the donors |
| Public loans | Public loans are an important source of financing for a local authority that are usually low interest or, in some cases, even interest-free |
| Sovereign wealth funds | A state-owned investment fund derived from a range of sources, for example trade surpluses or bank reserves, to provide benefit to the host country |
| Contract or receivables funding | A revolving fund is a fund set up for specified purposes with the concept that repayments to the fund may be used again for these purposes |
| Developer contributions | Developer contributions are planning tools that can be used to secure financial and non-financial contributions (including affordable housing) or other works to provide infrastructure to support the development and mitigate the impact of development |
Lessons and risks
Lessons and risks are categorised by a set of risk types.
The high-level categories are shown below.
| Risk category | Description |
| Technical | What the local energy project needs to do, what it is and how (well) it performs/behaves in its environment and with related systems |
| Market | Commercial arrangements for the local energy projects that result in value being realised |
| Social | People or groups involved in or impacted by local energy projects and their stakeholders, environment and related systems |
| Policy | Government interventions to support or constrain local energy projects and their stakeholders, environment and related systems |
| Legal | Law relating to local energy projects and their stakeholders, environment and related systems, including regulation |
| Economic | Economic impact or constraints on local energy projects and their stakeholders, environment and related systems |
| Environment | External effects associated with the development, production, utilisation, support and retirement of local energy projects and their stakeholders, environment and related systems |
| Organisation | Organisation(s) delivering the local energy projects project, including the supply chain |
| Project | Act of delivering local energy projects |
| Schedule | Relating to timing or delay of the delivery of local energy projects due to internal and external factors |
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