Coventry's Strategic Energy Partnership: a first of its kind

Coventry City Council has joined forces with E.ON to form a pioneering 15-year strategic energy partnership to transform the city’s approach to carbon reduction whilst helping people to save money and boosting the local economy. APSE caught up with the Council to find out more.

It’s well documented that cities consume 78% of the world’s energy and contribute to poorer air quality for those living in them. This means local authorities must play a critical role in tackling fuel poverty, air quality and poor health in areas such as transport, housing and renewable energy generation while, of course, embedding community benefit in that transition.

Local authorities often don’t have sufficient capital, resources, or expertise to tackle such a complex and wide-ranging issue on their own. That’s why Coventry set up its own Independent Climate Change Board to bring together key organisations from across the city on the scale and scope of its response. That culminated in September when the City Council joined forces with E.ON on the groundbreaking partnership. 

Cllr Jim O’Boyle, Coventry City Council’s Cabinet Member lead on climate change, outlines why such a partnership is so vital, and how it is already proving successful. He said: “Major investment and resources are needed to reduce our emissions and cut energy bills while unlocking opportunities across the city, and that’s why we have set up a Strategic Energy Partnership (SEP). 

“Working with the private sector will allow us to develop infrastructure projects with environmental, commercial and community benefits across the city. It’s a logical approach.” 

The first of its kind in the UK, the SEP is providing the capacity, expertise, and investment needed to support Coventry’s green economic growth, using public sector infrastructure assets – not to mention local knowledge and priorities – to develop projects, deliver value for money and provide opportunities to generate revenue and include social value to benefit local communities and people. 

Cllr O’Boyle added: “We now have a contractual joint venture strategic energy partnership. It’s a step change to decarbonisation in Coventry.  

“This is not a glorified delivery mechanism or a commercial customer and supplier relationship, this is a true partnership, a collaborative approach both at the executive level and also involving a public and private team co-located in the same city centre office. 

“One thing we do really well in Coventry is innovate and we also have a process in place where either side can initiate and develop projects, which then establishes a solid case for investment.”

The model enables long-term and sustainable infrastructure planning, with investment to support green economic growth, helps maximise the resources across the city council, cutting down on procurement time and cost and providing an opportunity to re-invest any revenue generated to further grow the city’s decarbonisation programme. 

Four strategic themes are driving the partnership approach: increasing the volume of locally generated renewable energy; green jobs and skills that bolster the local economy and develop sustainability-related skills of the future; a sense of innovation and scale with the ability to test new technologies and prove their community benefit; and supporting local people and communities, bringing real value to the city and its citizens along the way. 

The SEP is changing the way infrastructure projects are funded and delivered – with value for money an integral part of the partnership approach. Funding for ventures is determined on a project-by-project basis and models can include fully or partially grant-funded, external capital funding and income from third parties. 
To achieve the SEP model, the council brought together an internal project team allied with external advisors who designed a two-stage procurement process to focus on the needs of the city and a partnership approach. This took several months but with robust project management, the SEP was established in September 2023 – significantly less time than other similar processes have taken in the past. Of course, where Coventry has led, other local authorities can follow and the city is keen for others to replicate the Coventry model and achieve a partnership of this nature using the learnings of the SEP.   

On the private sector side, E.ON was perfectly placed to support the creation of the SEP, both in terms of its scale and its legacy of innovation in city-wide solutions, but equally in geographical terms as Coventry has been their UK headquarters for three decades.

A Midlands local, Chris Lovatt, Chief Operating Officer for E.ON’s Energy Infrastructure Services division, sits on Coventry’s Climate Change Board and co-chairs the Coventry SEP executive committee. 
 
He said: “The energy transition is a way to regenerate local economies and we’re convinced we can make a difference in and with our home city. We are already delivering forward-looking energy concepts across Europe, in cities such as Berlin and Malmo, and proving how the partnership approach is indispensable for green economic growth, more secure energy supplies, and the affordability of energy.
 
“We want to play our part in getting on and delivering on Coventry’s energy ambitions – making improvements across the city that people want and need. That could mean better insulation for homes, more energy-efficient public buildings, shifting from fossil fuels to locally-produced renewable energy and, perhaps most importantly, creating thousands of good jobs. These are exciting times.”

The SEP is progressing well. The first six months have been busy with more than sixteen projects currently in progress, ranging from public sector building and fleet decarbonisation, solar for schools to electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The partnership is also exploring opportunities around innovation which simply would not have been possible before. 

Social value is embedded within the SEP and will ensure long-term community benefit and sustainable impact. This approach is integral to delivery beyond business as usual.  

Cllr O’Boyle said: “It’s going well but there is lots more we want to do. The Council, with E.ON, is hoping to address the needs of the city, ensuring that local people, communities, and businesses benefit – by increasing economic prosperity, creating jobs, improving outcomes and tackling inequalities.”  

  •  Representatives from the Strategic Energy Partnership delivered a presentation at the APSE Big Energy Summit in February, their presentation is available on the APSE website.