GreenFlex Multi-expertise Local energy loops

Improving the economic and social development of a region through its decarbonization trajectory: the dual benefits of local energy loops

The National Low-carbon Strategy sets a target of 33% of final energy consumption to come from renewable and recovered energy sources by 2030. To help local authorities meet this target, we draw on our many areas of expertise, from planning to operational and overall project support, thanks to our pragmatic solutions that can be activated using our financing levers and our contractual engineering.

What is a local energy loop?

A local energy loop implies bringing together a number of public or private players around a shared local resource, whether heat, cooling, electricity or hydrogen. This type of project will connect players in the same area, to optimise the area’s energy resources and distribute them through these local loops.

Four people sitting at a table listening to a white woman dressed in blue talking

A local energy loop project involves many players:

Potential users of the loops, whether they are industrialists, developers, social landlords or from the tertiary sector
Local authorities, often at the heart of the process
Investors (public or private)
Network operators

Schéma des parties prenantes d'une boucle énergétique locale

Stakeholders in a local energy loop

For example, a manufacturer that has waste heat emitted by its equipment or facilities can set up an energy loop to recover this energy and send it to a nearby industrial third party or to a district heating network. The energy can also come from renewable sources such as heat, biogas or electricity.

Aerial view of photovoltaic pannels near fields and logistics buildings

Why set up a local energy loop?

Local energy loops are solutions for developing an energy mix tailored to available local resources as well as the needs of local stakeholders, and to the environmental, economic and social challenges they face.

The dual benefits of local energy loops

They are both an energy performance tool for companies as part of their energy transition, and a local energy service, guaranteeing the efficiency and attractiveness of a region. It is a way for landlords, industrial companies, developers and tertiary sector players to avoid oversizing their energy installations, and to reduce their energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

However, deploying these solutions requires:

Maximising the use of local, renewable or recovered energy resources: biomass, biogas, waste heat, solar thermal, geothermal, PV, wind power, etc.
Adapting existing networks or developing new ones
Leveraging flexible assets to smooth out local production/consumption imbalances
Deploying digital solutions to manage networks
Getting stakeholders (public and private players) and investors on board
Integrating financial, legal and contractual constraints
Identifying, measuring, managing and controlling risks during the various phases in the life cycle of local energy loops

Supporting the various players throughout the project

GreenFlex brings together all the players and applies its unique multi-expertise to support them from the design stage through to completion of the project, integrating technical and legal expertise and structuring the financing.

We act upstream:

Energy, environment and mobility master plan to propose an appropriate roadmap
Master plan for the recovery of fatal energy on the scale of an area and/or an industrial platform

We can help you get started:

Feasibility and design studies for energy infrastructures, heat recovery on industrial sites or connection to heating networks
Design studies for a local energy loop
Project management assistance for the consultation of contractors, monitoring and acceptance of the worksite
Turnkey contract for the design and implementation of energy efficiency or decarbonization projects

We can help you put together a suitable financial package and finance the project, combining different solutions:

White Certificates
Finance lease
Third-party financing via a project company (SPV)

Stakeholder management is also crucial, and we know how to move a project’s stakeholders from intention, to buy-in, to involvement, to create genuine energy communities. Our role is to understand the specific characteristics of each stakeholder and to respond as effectively as possible to the challenges they face.

The decarbonization trajectory

Local energy loops are therefore part of a global and ambitious strategy at regional level, and as such they are one of the levers on the road to carbon neutrality.

Contributing to carbon neutrality means following the 7 stages of an approved methodology that meets your challenges of rising energy costs, regulatory constraints and exchanges with your stakeholders.

That’s why we’re putting our multi-expertise to work for you, helping you set up and finance your local energy loop project.