Taylor Armitt Consulting

Project

Taylor Armitt Consulting: Home Energy Enterprise Feasibility Study – Stage Two.

Issue

An investigation was required to decide whether a Community Interest Company (CIC) investing in solar power could generate enough funding to support training and job creation by a Home Energy Enterprise (HEE). The HEE would be a self funded service undertaken by the Calico Housing Group on behalf of the Lancashire Housing Partnership.

The HEE would identify basic energy efficiency measures, educate tenants and deliver a rolling programme of 6 or 12 month work placements for Intermediate Labour Market workers, to provide them with training and accreditation.

Regenerate’s role

A business plan was developed to test whether such a company could be sustainable and assess the amounts of capital and other support that would be required. Regenerate added sub regional expertise to the project and were employed on the strength of our past projects. Using our knowledge of the Pennine Lancashire market place and the renewable energy agenda, we also contributed to several aspects of the commission including:

• Developing a proposal for the HEE and the company
• Sourcing potential partners and investors
• Running initial due diligence on potential partners
• Developing a costing and charging structure
• Researching jobs and environmental support
• Discussing the requirements of potential ‘expansion’ partners
• Negotiating in principle with potential delivery partners
• Developing a risk sharing model

Impact

The report concluded that whilst there were many risks involved, there was a practical business case where feed in tariffs from the use of sustainable power could become a source of revenue. It has been agreed that Calico will undertake further more detailed work with a view to establishing a pilot programme that will generate c£150,000 private sector investment and create 2 full time ‘trainee’ employment opportunities.

This work is currently underway within Calico and it is hoped that they will be in a position to ‘launch’ the project in the third quarter of this financial year (subject to an approved business plan). The use of solar power will also contribute a positive environmental impact, reducing demand for carbon intensive fossil fuels and helping to reduce fuel bills for local people.

“Regenerate Pennine Lancashire brought a great deal of value to this commission with their knowledge, including the local market and key contacts. Their work was essential in TAC delivering a commission for which the client expressed very high levels of satisfaction”. Bill Taylor, Taylor Armitt Consulting.