Coordinated energy-related PPIs actions for cities (CEPPI)

Project Information

CEPPI 2

Grant agreement ID: 649720

DOI

10.3030/649720

Project closed

EC signature date 5 February 2015

Start date 1 April 2015

End date 31 July 2018

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost

€ 1 294 808,00

EU contribution

€ 1 294 808,00

Coordinated by

OPTIMAT LIMITED
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - CEPPI 2 (Coordinated energy-related PPIs actions for cities (CEPPI))

Reporting period: 2016-10-01 to 2018-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

CEPPI (Coordinated energy-related Public Procurement of Innovation) aimed to demonstrate how European cities can make more rapid progress towards achieving their energy-related objectives through the strategic use of public procurement and specifically through the adoption of pro-innovation procurement methods. Representatives of five city authorities of different sizes and cultures (Birmingham, Budapest, Castellon, Valencia and Wroclaw) participated in what became very much a ‘Living Lab’ by adopting and, where necessary, adapting public procurement of innovation (PPI) methodologies in forthcoming tenders.

The project also aimed to build capacity in these cities on how to achieve more sustainable energy solutions through a pro-innovation procurement approach. The scope of the project included working with wider energy using stakeholders in the city in addition to addressing the direct energy used by the city authority.

The specific objectives of CEPPI were to:

1. Identify and quantify future investment and procurement plans in participating cities that could be influenced to achieve a lower energy and/or CO2 outcome

2. Develop and implement a practical procurement support programme that will build organisational capacity in city authorities in smart, sustainable, innovation procurement through action learning activities and thus progressively influence their procurement processes both during the period of the project and beyond

3. Implement at least one PPI project in each of the five cities with the combined potential to reduce primary energy consumption by at least 33 GWh/year

4. Develop procurement roadmaps to identify public tenders that might be ripe for more ambitious energy-related PPI projects after the end of the project

5. Engage with the Climate KIC network to explore what current and emerging technologies can offer more sustainable energy solutions for upcoming tenders in the medium/longer term

6. Produce an evidence-based Guide to communicate the lessons and methodologies to other cities and launch at a suitable European Conference

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The main activities and results included:

Identification of Energy/Procurement Opportunities: Each of the participating cities collated available energy baseline information for both the city authority and wider energy hotspots. They also identified intervention options in planned procurements where there could be potential for achieving better energy-related outcomes. They were then guided by the experts in the consortium to produce individual Energy/Procurement Foresight reports including consideration of how to improve the framework conditions for ‘energy innovation procurement’.

Capacity Building: This was an important element of the project and a necessary prerequisite to build both the capacity, and confidence, to challenge existing procurement practice. It started with a PPI Gap Analysis, which revealed significant capacity barriers and much progress was made in both awareness and the establishment of policy frameworks by the end of the project. This was enabled through a mix of targeted training of local facilitators, peer learning workshop and team coaching.

Implement PPI Projects: The original plan was that each city partner would implement one demonstration project that, collectively, would be of sufficient scale to achieve the headline CEPPI target of reducing energy consumption by at least 33GWh/year. This proved to be difficult in practice due to the barriers to change, lack of appropriate planned procurements and capacity gaps during the early part of the project. The solution was for the city leads to work on a variety of intervention opportunities and both the short and long term energy saving impact of these was estimated at over 100GWh/year.

Communication and Dissemination: The various learning tools and publications from the CEPPI project are available on the project website (www.ceppi.eu) and the lessons learned have been presented at a number of national and European events. The flagship publication is entitled Energy Innovation Procurement: A Guide for City Authorities’ and a Case Study Report with associated training slides are also available.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project confirmed the original view that the typical city authority in Europe is not using its procurement function as a strategic tool to support its policy objectives related to energy sustainability and climate change. There are many barriers to this and the CEPPI project highlighted these, and how they could be overcome, through a variety of practical interventions. These become increasingly more numerous and strategic as the city leads became more aware and confident about the methodologies of pro-innovation procurement. This included an increasing awareness that city authorities need to improve the framework conditions for energy innovation procurement and one of the by-products was the creation of a Flexible Framework tool to allow them to consider how to do this.

The project has led to a number of publications and learning tools that are available on the CEPPI website. These are collectively aimed at sharing the capacity building tools that were used during the project and providing guidance and case studies for other city authorities.

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