**SOFT MARKET TESTING** Solar Farms on Essex County Council owned Landholdings

Essex County Council (the Council) has a commitment in Everyone’s Essex 2021 to 2025 to accelerate the county’s transition to renewable and sustainable energy. As part of this, the Council has set a target for its core estate to reach net zero by 2030. Electricity consumption is projected to decrease over the coming years through investment in energy efficiency and estate rationalisation, but the Council also has a commitment, through its renewable electricity strategy, to access 100% of its energy requirement from renewable sources and to maximise opportunities for both onsite and offsite renewable electricity generation.

As part of this commitment, the Council is keen to explore opportunities to develop solar generation on land assets that it owns. This could include both private wire and grid connected opportunities, with the potential for the Council to act as an off-taker for any projects that come forward.

The Council has reviewed its landholdings and identified FOUR sites for development consideration. These sites have all undergone various land assessments to determine risk. The Council wants to determine the feasibility of developing ground mounted solar farms on these four sites and invites interested parties to respond to the Q&A pack prepared as part of this soft market testing.

Responses will be reviewed, and shortlisted parties invited for a virtual Q&A session on the 30th or 31st January 2023. At this stage this opportunity is soft market test only and NOT A CALL FOR COMPETITION.

This market test exercise is to allow the Council to ascertain interest from the market, investigate potential options, and consider the best route for a potential future contract opportunity.

Further details and a questionnaire pack can be located via the Council's e-sourcing portal, ProContract: procontract.due-north.com/Login ↗ Please note that you will need to register a supplier account to access the soft market test questionnaire pack. However, the registration process is free of charge and provides access to all the current and forthcoming procurement opportunities for Essex County Council alongside several other public sector organisations.

The deadline for the soft market test responses will be Friday 13th January 2023 at 12:00pm; all responses and clarifications must be submitted via ProContract.