Heat Network Detailed Project Development Resource: Guidance on Strategic and Commercial Case

This document provides guidance on the commercial and strategic elements of a heat network project to support completion of a project business case.
The guidance is intended for local authorities and heat network developers to support their investigations and enable progression from feasibility stage through to business case delivery. The guidance has been drafted with reference to policy, legislation and regulation in England and Wales; however much of the guidance is likely also to be relevant to projects in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The guidance specifically supports the HMT Green Book Five Cases Business Model (the Five Cases Model), and the derived DBEIS Business Case Template (DBEIS BCT) that follows this structure, but will also be applicable in other instances. The Five Cases Model (and similarly the DBEIS BCT) considers the viability of the project from five perspectives:

• Strategic
• Economic
• Commercial
• Financial
• Management

Although all five elements are relevant, this guide particularly focuses on the Strategic and Commercial cases.
Related Document Heat Networks 2020