Thames Water has gone out to tender with a number of separate Lots for the funding, supply, installation, operation and maintenance of upgrading and compressing plant to produce biomethane which is capable of being transported or injected to the grid.
The water company has 25 sites with an anaerobic digestion process, all of which produce over 800 GWh of biogas. Each of the sites are slightly different and may require differing solutions depending on their location, biogas composition, energy usage etc.
The contract is being tendered in a number of separate Lots.
For Lot1 a, which covers biogas plant, Thames is looking for suppliers who can help it to utilise biogas in an optimum manner in order to improve its environmental performance and maximise the value of the biogas.
A combination of upgrading and compressing plant to enable it to transport the biomethane or inject it into the gas grid may be required, depending on the site solution.
The biogas produced from the anaerobic digestion plant contains siloxanes, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide as well as methane. Thames is looking for upgrade plant that can handle its biogas composition and their variants and produce biomethane that meets grid specifications.
Suppliers appointed as main contractors will be expected to undertake Principal Design and Principal Contractor roles.
The Lot is primarily aimed at EPC contractors or OEM entities – scope of work covered includes:
- design plant in order to maximise efficiency and achieve excellent value for money;
- source plant from reputable suppliers;
- undertake works on Thames Water operational sites to allow the existing anaerobic digestion plant to be integrated with the upgrading plant;
- install upgrading and potentially compressor plant in line with TW process standards as well as relevant industry standards;
- conduct commissioning;
- operate and maintain system after final handover/commissioning has ended.
- guarantee a level of availability of the plant and conversion rate for the gas.
Under Lot 1B, for funded biogas plant which will be funded by a third party, successful suppliers will also be responsible for the funding of the plants and ownership for 10-20 years through a contract and lease for the plant which will process and enable off-take of gas to the required specification, with ownership of the gas remaining with Thames Water.
At the end of the contract, the installation ownership would transfer to Thames Water or the installation would be removed.
Suppliers would be expected to operate and maintain the plants throughout the length of the contract.
Thames is looking to award multi-supplier framework agreements, of varying duration and extension options, with the opportunity for suppliers to enter into mini-competitions.
Lot 2 covers the sale of biomethane and requires suppliers to work closely with biogas plant, grid injection etc in order to generate and share value achieved. Thames is looking to enter into a framework agreement with multiple potential buyers under which individual site specific opportunities will be competed. The utility expects to award long term contracts on a project by project basis.
Lot 3 allows bidders to apply to offer complete solutions for sites, via a combination of lots giving bidder responsibility from the digester plant outlet to the generation of revenue from the selling of the biomethane.
Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate is 22nd June 2020 – click here to access the tender documentation.
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