Burton Agnes Renewables Limited was a joint venture set up between the Dewhirst farming group and the Burton Agnes Estate to build and operate a 40 GWh gas-to-grid anaerobic digestion (“AD”) plant located on the Burton Agnes estate near Driffield. The plant is fed on rotational energy crops (such as maize and rye) with much of the energy crops grown on the Dewhirst and Burton Agnes arable farms, although there is also a proportion grown on neighbouring farmers’ land.  The previous shareholders will have a continuing role as the plant’s landlord, feedstock provider and digestate offtaker.

Future Biogas is one of the largest anaerobic digestion plant developers and biogas producers in the UK. It now owns majority stakes in ten AD plants and operates an additional AD plant. Future Biogas has operated Burton Agnes Renewables since 2021.

QMPF’s role included providing commercial and strategic advice on the sale to the shareholders.

Andrew Dougans, Partner at QMPF said “We are delighted to have advised on the successful sale of Burton Agnes Renewables AD plant. We are pleased to have supported the shareholders with commercial and strategic advice throughout the process and to see them continue their long-term involvement with the project as landlord, feedstock provider and digestate offtaker.”

Simon Cunliffe-Lister, Burton Agnes Renewables Ltd, said “We are pleased to have worked with QMPF to successfully complete the sale of the Burton Agnes Renewables AD plant. QMPF’s advice throughout proved invaluable and ongoing management of the transaction led to an efficient and well-run process.”

QMPF is pleased to announce that it has advised Orkney Islands Council on securing a loan from The National Wealth Fund (NWF) for its 28.8MW wind farm at Quanterness. The project – in development since 2019 – was unanimously backed by elected members in February this year and will see six 149.1m turbines built at the site in St. Ola, situated between Kirkwall and Finstown.

The loan of up to £62.1m covers the cost of the project build, contingency and interest. The loan, provided through NWF’s Local Authority Lending and Advisory Team, provides low-cost, long-term financing for the community wind farm meaning no further draw from the Council’s Strategic Reserve Fund is required to deliver the project. The Council also has an option to return funds spent to date back to the Strategic Reserve Fund through the loan.

Quanterness wind farm benefits from a CfD, awarded in AR4 and it is estimated that it could generate an annual income of more than £3m (in today’s money) for the Council, providing a new revenue stream to protect and develop public services.

The wind farm will also support the delivery of the Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) interconnector cable which will be used to transport the electricity to the Scottish mainland.

QMPF’s role included financial modelling of the wind farm and analysis of various performance and cost scenarios to support the Council’s Final Investment Decision in February. Concomitantly, QMPF supported the Council in its engagement with the National Wealth Fund to secure its loan for Quanterness.

Chris Purnell, Strategic Projects Director – Enterprise and Economic Growth, Orkney Islands Council said:

“We wish to express our sincere appreciation to QMPF for its outstanding professional support and strategic guidance throughout the Final Investment Decision process and in securing the facility agreement. These achievements represent critical milestones in the progression of the Quanterness wind farm project, and QMPF expertise has been instrumental in delivering these outcomes.”

Andrew Dougans, Partner, QMPF said:

“We’re proud to have supported Orkney Islands Council in securing this landmark £62 million loan from the National Wealth Fund. This funding will help unlock long-term value for the community and accelerate the delivery of clean energy infrastructure. QMPF is delighted to have played a role in enabling this transformative project.”

QMPF was re-engaged by Kingston Upon Hull City Council to provide financial modelling support for the Hull City Centre district heat network and to prepare the financial section of the final business case (“FBC”). The FBC and financial model were developed to assist the Council obtain final approvals and funding arrangements alongside its £14m grant from the Green Heat Network Fund.

The scheme is designed to offtake heat from air source heat pumps, with the remainder being satisfied using gas back-up boilers. Consideration was also given to the ability for the project to receive bulk heat supply from a local energy from waste facility. The project will provide heat to multiple offtaker groups including existing Council buildings and new developments, private residential buildings, Hull College and other public sector buildings.

QMPF worked with the appointed technical and commercial advisors, Arup and Peak Earth, to lead on the delivery of a detailed base case financial model which considered the corporate structure, financing, working capital and tax for the project company. We conducted extensive sensitivity analysis to establish the robustness of the scheme to factors such as funding arrangements, fluctuations in energy import prices, energy demand, changes to costs (capex and opex) and macroeconomic variables. Detailed financial analysis was performed to allow the Council to assess alternative funding arrangements including loan funding from PWLB or National Wealth Fund.  QMPF used the outputs from the analysis to develop the finance case which formed part of the Council’s Full Business Case and supported its associated approval process for the project.

Graeme Smith – Business Partner, Corporate Finance, Kingston upon Hull City Council said:

“We were very impressed with the speed of advice QMPF provided, and their ability to deal with financial, commercial and technical queries is excellent. The financial model and finance case were developed in a clear and robust manner, whilst meeting tight deadlines set.

Their work has been invaluable to us taking forward to achieve Council approval for the project, whilst providing additional support on potential funding options.

The speed of advice, and the ability to deal with queries in a very timely manner is excellent, & the firm provide super value for money!”

The University of Edinburgh, as part of its Energy Masterplan, explored the possibility of developing low carbon district heating networks to provide the heating requirement for two of its core city centre campuses. 

The University wanted to understand the financial implications of pursuing the new schemes, in comparison to the counterfactual, which in itself, was different to the ‘business as usual’, reflecting the University’s ambitious approach to further modernising its energy strategy. 

QMPF was appointed to prepare the financial model and develop the Financial Case for Investment within the wider Business Case for presentation to the University’s Executive. QMPF worked closely with the University’s technical advisors, Buro Happold, using the project techno-economic models as the basis for the development of the financial models.  

QMPF also supported the decision making around the project’s legal and commercial structure, advising on the optimal position in the context of the University’s existing approach to energy provision across its campuses. 

Dean Drobot – Head of Energy & Utilities, University of Edinburgh said:

“The team at QMPF provided exemplary strategic planning support. They communicated key insights from their financial model very effectively, contributing significantly to our outline business case development and our understanding of risk and sensitivity”.  

QMPF is delighted to announce that it has advised Orkney Islands Council on bids for two of its Orkney Community Wind Farm Project sites into the Contracts for Difference (CfD) round 4 auction. Hoy (28.8 MW) and Quanterness (28.8MW) achieved a Strike Price of £46.39/MWh in what was the largest UK renewable energy auction to date. It is a significant milestone for the projects which are due to be delivered in 2026/27. All the profits from the wind farms will stay within the islands for the benefit of the local community.  

Furthermore, the success in the CfD auction supports the needs case for the new interconnector to the Scottish mainland which, if progressed, will open up new opportunities for the future development of significant renewable energy technologies around the islands. 

QMPF is pleased to announce that it has advised the shareholders, Raynham Estate and Downing LLP managed funds, on the successful sale of Corbiere Renewables Ltd to Bio Capital Ltd, a joint venture between Equitix and Helios managed funds.

Corbiere Renewables Ltd is a 550m3/hour gas-to-grid anaerobic digestion (AD) plant located on the Raynham Estate in Norfolk. The AD plant commenced operations in 2015 and is accredited under the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme.

QMPF’s role included providing commercial and strategic advice before and throughout the transaction, advising on the valuation of the plant, marketing the investment opportunity and managing the tender process for the sale.

Raynham Estate will remain as the plant’s landlord, feedstock provider and digestate offtaker.

Downing/Raynham said “We are pleased to have worked with QMPF to successfully complete the sale of the Corbiere AD plant. We were especially pleased to receive broad interest in the plant and conclude what was a well-run and tight process.”

Andrew Dougans, Director at QMPF said “QMPF is delighted to have advised and concluded on the sale of this project, which has demonstrated the breadth and depth of our expertise in the AD market. It again highlights the QMPF team’s ability to manage a sales process to a high standard, maximising value for our clients.”

QMPF was engaged by Peterborough City Council to provide a financial model, sensitivity analysis and finance case to support its proposed low carbon district energy network. The Peterborough Integrated Renewables Infrastructure (“PIRI”) Scheme was designed to integrate low-carbon heating and private wire electricity schemes for connected buildings and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.  

The proposed PIRI district heating network will utilise heat from the Peterborough Energy Recovery Facility, an energy from waste plant, and a water source heat pump backed up by gas boilers. The heat network will supply existing industrial businesses, Council-owned properties, and key regeneration areas stretching into the city centre. The project also includes a private wire connection which will supply 20 offtakers with electricity.  

PIRI is intended to be an innovative “multi-energy vector” project which will help to address Peterborough’s future decarbonisation targets. The network itself is designed to be input and technology-agnostic to support future growth. 

QMPF developed our in-house district heating financial model for the initial phases of the scheme which underpinned the financial section of the Outline Business Case. QMPF was sub-contracted by the appointed technical advisers (Element Energy) and worked with them to deliver the base case model in addition to a number of sensitivities to quantify the financial impact of project risks. The OBC and financial model were developed to assist the Council in its successful Green Heat Network Fund grant application. 

QMPF was engaged by Kingston Upon Hull City Council to provide financial modelling support for the Hull City Centre district heat network and draft the financial sections of the outline business case (“OBC”). The OBC and financial model were developed to assist the Council in its Green Heat Network funding application.

The scheme is designed to offtake heat from an energy from waste plant, with the remainder being satisfied using gas back-up boilers. The project will provide heat to multiple offtaker groups including existing Council buildings and new developments, private residential buildings, Hull College and other public sector buildings.

QMPF worked with the appointed technical and commercial advisors, Sustainable Energy and 1Energy, to lead on the delivery of a detailed base case financial model. We also conducted sensitivity analysis to establish the robustness of the scheme to factors such as fluctuations in energy import prices and reduced energy demand.

Graeme Smith, Business Partner at Kingston Upon Hull City Council said

“We were very impressed with the depth of their technical knowledge, and the model provided was clear and easy to understand. QMPF were very responsive to our needs, and were able to respond to information requests from our key stakeholders very quickly. Their work has been invaluable to us taking forward a viable business plan and funding application.

I would be more than happy to recommend QMPF to anyone undertaking a similar project.”