Public procurement notice: Prior Information Notice Without Call For Competition
Published: 2019-02-11
Buyer: The University of Sheffield
Country: UK
Contract type: Supplies
CPV classification: 71314000: Energy and related services
Estimated value: 195000 GBP
EU fund: ERDF

Technical requirements: This is not a call for competition. With co-funding from the European Regional Development Fund, the University of Sheffield is establishing a flagship national Translation Energy Research Centre to provide a multi-technology, integrated RD&D platform to bring together a range of energy generation facilities. This will promote research, innovation and demonstration of individual and integrated systems with the purpose of encouraging their uptake. The University of Sheffield is planning to release a tender to procure a smart energy management module for integrated electrical and heat generation and distribution. The module will need to be integrated into a range of onsite facilities to control and monitor the energy flows between them as well as the grid. This would be a key technology to demonstrate how different generation technologies can complement each other in an integrated systems approach.
Equipment covered by the PIN: the new Translation Energy Research Centre will have a range of facilities to significantly expand our current equipment portfolio. We are therefore looking to procure a smart energy module that can be integrated with various systems, including but not limited to: a waste-to-energy combustor, a combined-heat-and-power biomass gasifier, natural gas and biogas turbines/engine, an ORC turbine, solar and other generation with battery storage and an electrolyser for hydrogen generation as well as grid export.
Outline of attributes: the energy management system will need to provide integrated electrical distribution and allow for, primarily, power monitoring and control. It will ideally also enable grid integration with modes of operation including peak shaving/self-consumption and feed-in/load management. We envisage that the system will be able to take energy generation and consumption data (e.g. from heat meters, consumed power, export data, etc.) from many/all of the onsite equipment. The system should be able to show trends, such as heat and power flows, and allow for data storage, as well as continuous online monitoring and logging. This should also enable the export of this data to be used in common/commercially-available external analytical tools, such as MS Excel. The system should also ideally be able to match generation to demand, by controlling a range of flows and rig operations, including switchgear components to control power to the equipment or to send signals to start/stop equipment. The heat values should be monitored and there should be the potential to monitor and set flow controls to the building heating/cooling system. An optimal management solution is required for electricity storage to batteries, between the electricity generated by the solar panels and the high voltage electricity generated by other equipment.
Purpose of PIN: we are issuing a PIN to highlight this opportunity to potential suppliers. We are also launching a market consultation exercise to help inform a realistic technical specification for the forthcoming tender process, and to engage with potential suppliers to better understand the following:
The individual tender requirements will follow separately after the market engagement exercise has concluded and will be advertised through OJEU and contracts finder, with documents being made available via the University’s In-tend portal https://in-tendhost.co.uk/sheffield/aspx/Home
Market engagement: the market engagement will be held between 9.2.2019 and 11.3.2019. Meetings and site visits must be arranged no later than by 28.2.2019.
Format: individual, non-confidential meetings, either face-to-face or via the telephone or teleconferencing software, or a combination of the above will be offered. Site visits are encouraged to enable discussion in the context of the installation space. A questionnaire will be used to guide the discussions and record responses. The topics for discussion are available on request when arranging the meeting/site visit. Up to a total of up to 4 hours has been allocated for each party, to be utilised in one block or multiple sessions, as appropriate. Contacts to arrange meetings: suppliers are encouraged to contact Dr Kris Milkowski by email (k.milkowski@sheffield.ac.uk) or telephone (+44(0)7802720369) to make arrangements for site visits and meetings. Site visits will be held at: University of Sheffield, Unit 2, Crown Works Industrial Estate, Rotherham Road, Beighton, Sheffield, S20 1AH, UK.
Other information: suppliers are welcome to provide non-confidential brochures or similar information on relevant products prior to the meeting to facilitate discussions.


Award value: 195000