What a Site Assessment Involves — and What to Prepare

Every onsite energy project starts the same way: someone asks whether it could work at their site. The site assessment is how that question gets a real answer. It is deliberately quick and inexpensive for the customer, because its job is to decide whether a project is worth developing before either side commits serious time or money.

The five things we assess

1. Load

How much energy the site uses, when, and in what form:

• electricity consumption and demand, ideally hourly or half-hourly over a year;
• peak and base load, and how they vary by shift, season and production level;
• heat demand — steam, hot water, drying, kilns — including temperatures and hours;
• planned growth: new lines, expansions, electrification.

2. Fuel

What the plant would run on:

• residue types and volumes produced on site, by month;
• what happens to that residue today, and what it costs or earns;
• moisture, ash and contamination — ideally from laboratory analysis, otherwise from samples;
• other sources within practical transport distance.

See how to assess your biomass residue.

3. Site

Where the plant would go:

• available land near the electrical and heat connection points;
• access for construction and fuel deliveries;
• ground conditions, drainage and flood risk;
• neighbours, noise and planning constraints.

4. Grid and regulation

How the plant fits with the existing supply:

• the current grid connection, its capacity and reliability;
• rules for behind-the-meter generation, parallel operation and export;
• permits likely to be required, and their typical timelines.

5. Economics

Whether it adds up:

• current energy costs, and a realistic view of how they will move;
• an indicative plant configuration and capital cost;
• an indicative energy price under Energy-as-a-Service, compared with the current tariff;
• value from heat, residue disposal savings and, where applicable, carbon removal.

How it runs

1. Initial conversation. A call to understand the site and what you want to achieve.
2. Data request. A short list of information — see below.
3. Site visit. Engineers walk the site, see the residue and the energy systems, and meet the people who run them.
4. Analysis. Load modelling, fuel assessment, layout and economics.
5. Findings. An indicative configuration and energy price, the key risks, and a recommendation on whether to proceed to development.

What to prepare

The assessment moves fastest when these are ready:

• 12 months of electricity bills, and interval data if the utility provides it;
• fuel bills for boilers, dryers, kilns or generators;
• residue records — tonnes by type and month — and any lab analysis;
• a site plan showing buildings, the electrical intake and spare land;
• production plans for the next few years.

Nothing needs to be perfect. Estimates are fine at this stage; the assessment identifies what needs measuring properly.

What happens next

If the project is worth developing, the next stage is development: detailed engineering, fuel contracts, permits, financing and the energy agreement. If it is not, you will know why — whether it is fuel, load, site or economics — and what would change the answer. See how we deliver projects.

Next step

Assess your site — send us what you have and we will take it from there.