The Director of Technical Services presented a report which provided details of the proposed Discounted Energy Purchase (DEP) Combined Heat and Power (CHP) contract to replace the existing plant at Leasowe Recreation Centre and to provide new CHP plant at Europa Pools and West Kirby Concourse. The benefit of the DEP scheme was that the contractor only charged i.e. the leasing costs, for the electricity that the plant produced (the site pays for the gas used) over the 10 to 12 year contract period and there was no capital outlay or operational risk required by the Council. CHP delivered a range of economic, environmental and supply benefits. The initial investment of £10,000, which could be funded from the Efficiency Investment Budget, would provide a financial return in excess of £30,000 per year at current prices. As utility prices continued to rise the savings from the CHP would increase.

Resolved – That

(1)  to allow the invest to save scheme to proceed, approval be given to fund the initial £10,000 investment from the Efficiency Investment Budget; and

(2)  approval be given to install the three Ener-g Ltd. CHP units using their DEP leasing arrangements subject to satisfactory contractual and legal arrangements being agreed by the Councils Legal Section.