Our Guide to Low-Cost Sustainability

The world needs sustainability and now, more than ever, businesses find themselves turning to new technologies and solutions to help them meet their energy needs and mitigate their impact on the environment.

Unfortunately, for many businesses – especially in the commercial and retail space – moving towards more sustainable energy might seem like an expensive impossibility. Whether it’s solar, wind, or Combined Heat and Power (CHP), the long-term use of cleaner, more efficient energy might outweigh the initial investment of capital, but many businesses struggle to reach that first huge capital expenditure in the first place.

That’s why we’re sharing one powerful option for business owners gaining prominence over the last decade. The Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).

What is a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)?

PPAs involve a third-party who will fund the initial investment into your sustainable energy solution and will also fund the operations and maintenance of it too. Then your PPA provider will charge your business the cost of the energy – which will usually be cheaper than grid price. It enables your business to source your energy needs without the burden or risk of spending a large upfront capital expenditure.

With the push for net zero, businesses aiming to transition to more sustainable energy solutions, utilising a PPA can have a huge impact, providing access to clean and reliable power without that initial financial burden.

Here in the UK, it’s an unfortunate truth that on-site solar energy cannot meet the demands of most businesses. Often businesses that utilise solar to meet their sustainability goals will find themselves relying on grid-generated power when their solar energy system can’t keep up.

Whether you have a completely carbon-neutral energy solution or not, another option that can (unlike wind or solar) completely eliminate the need for grid power is the Combined Heat and Power (CHP) unit.

CHP Units

Combined Heat and Power (CHP) units, also known as cogeneration systems, use a fuel to simultaneously generate electricity and utilise the waste heat for heating or cooling purposes.

Unlike traditional power plants, used to generate grid power, CHP systems maximise energy efficiency by capturing and repurposing the heat that would otherwise be wasted. This results in a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and an overall more sustainable energy solution. CHP systems have achieved efficiencies of over 80%, meaning they’re nearly twice as efficient as traditional grid power.

But the opportunity for sustainability doesn’t just stop at reducing your carbon footprint. By utilising a carbon-neutral fuel source like hydrogen, you can generate energy with zero emissions.

This is all whilst giving you complete energy independence from grid power, meaning you never have to worry about large fluctuations in cost or the risk of potential power cuts interrupting your business’s operations.

CHP Units and Power Purchase Agreements

CHP’s are ideal if you want to make reaching your sustainable energy goals easier (and cheaper) than ever.

With a PPA, businesses can enjoy the freedom and security of getting low-carbon power through a CHP – all without the significant initial investment. But it also gives you much cleaner energy security for the future.

We’ve all seen how events completely out of our control can end up having a huge impact on the cost of electricity for months if not years, but many PPAs will give you a much more secure, consistent price with a fixed – or at the very least – predictable, pricing structure. These structured pricing models will last over the duration of the agreement.

This is one of the strengths of CHP units – whereas electricity costs can fluctuate with an ever-unstable geopolitical market, fuel for CHP units often remains much steadier.

The biggest benefit of grid power is that your business doesn’t have to think about where your energy comes from. The significant issues that arise are the fault of your energy supplier, not you or your business. We understand that moving to off-grid energy means the responsibility and cost of energy generation and maintaining your generator, whatever it may be, becomes yours.

But with PPAs, the third-party financial stakeholder is responsible for your energy solution and will handle the upkeep and maintenance of it over the lifetime of your PPA. The energy producer installs, owns, and maintains the CHP unit, allowing the consumer to access clean power without the financial burden.

If you’re curious about getting a CHP for your business, get in touch with us by emailing info@helec.co.uk or you can reach out to our PPA partner Orezten at info@orezten.co.uk