A major deal is due to be approved next week paving the way for £424 million investment into renewable energy in Bristol. City Hall chiefs will likely sign off the City Leap deal between Bristol City Council and Ameresco, in a bid to cut the city’s carbon emissions.
The 20-year deal will see a raft of projects transforming how Bristol generates, distributes, stores and uses energy. This includes expanding the district heat network, installing new wind turbines and solar panels, retrofitting homes with insulation, and rolling out heat pumps.
Bristol City Council’s cabinet will decide whether to approve the landmark deal at a meeting on Tuesday, December 6. Key parts of the deal are making the council’s operations carbon neutral by 2025, and retrofitting council-owned social housing by 2030 with new insulation.
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Mark Apsey, managing director of Ameresco and City Leap Energy Partnership, writing in the City Leap business plan, said: “The impact of global warming is changing our natural world with devastating effect and frequency. The City Leap Energy Partnership is a key component of Bristol’s response to the climate emergency.”
Over the next five years, Ameresco has promised to save 140,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, install 180 megawatts of renewable energy generation, and invest £22 million in energy efficiency. The company is also promising to subcontract some projects to local firms and create 410 new jobs in Bristol.
A recent cabinet report said: “Ameresco will contribute substantial investment, capacity and expertise to support the desired step change in the pace of delivery of low carbon projects. City Leap projects will have a positive impact for Bristol’s businesses and residents, providing homes and businesses with fairly priced clean energy.”
The City Leap deal was first approved by the cabinet in April 2019, and after a long search, the council chose American company Ameresco and Swedish company Vattenfall to head up the project. Vattenfall will focus on expanding the heat network, while Ameresco will cover the rest of the deal.
