CPP is now a Bloom NEPRO3 Accredited Supplier
Cooper Potter & Partners is pleased to announce that we are now an accredited supplier on the Bloom NEPRO3 framework — one of the UK public sector’s leading procurement routes for specialist professional services. Accreditation was confirmed on 5 June 2026.
NEPRO3 is a fully compliant professional services procurement framework managed by the North East Procurement Organisation (NEPO) and delivered by Bloom. It covers over 460 categories of specialist professional services and is available to the entire UK public sector, including local authorities, NHS trusts, housing associations, central government departments, emergency services, education bodies and not-for-profit organisations.
What NEPRO3 means for public sector buyers
Public sector organisations commissioning professional services face a common challenge: they need compliant, fast and cost-effective access to specialist expertise, without the time and cost burden of running a full open tender for every engagement. NEPRO3 is designed to solve exactly that problem.
Buyers using NEPRO3 benefit from a pre-competed, fully compliant framework that satisfies the requirements of the Public Contracts Regulations and the Procurement Act 2023. All suppliers on the framework — including CPP — have been through a rigorous accreditation process covering financial standing, professional qualifications, insurance, quality management and relevant experience. That means buyers can move directly to selecting and appointing a supplier without repeating those checks themselves.
The framework offers an accelerated mini-competition process that is significantly faster than traditional procurement routes. Buyers specify their requirement, Bloom manages the process of identifying suitable accredited suppliers, and a contract can be in place within days rather than months. Buyers using the NEPRO solution save on average 14% against budget, according to Bloom’s published data, while maintaining full audit trails and procurement compliance.
NEPRO3 is also designed to support the social value requirements of the Procurement Act 2023. The framework actively promotes SME suppliers, supports local economic development, and embeds social value into the project lifecycle. For public sector procurement teams under pressure to demonstrate both value for money and broader social outcomes, NEPRO3 provides a practical mechanism to achieve both.
Why procure CPP through NEPRO3?
For public sector organisations looking to commission sustainability consultancy, renewable energy development advice, net zero strategy, built environment energy services or G99/G100 grid connection expertise, appointing CPP through the NEPRO3 framework offers a number of practical advantages.
First, it is simple. There is no need for a standalone tender process. Bloom manages the administrative process, and buyers can move directly to scoping and appointment using a framework that already satisfies their procurement obligations.
Second, it is fast. Where timescales are tight — a funding bid deadline, a capital programme milestone, an urgent feasibility requirement — the NEPRO3 mini-competition process can be completed quickly, without compromising compliance.
Third, it provides certainty. CPP’s accreditation on the framework means that our professional qualifications, insurance, financial standing and quality management procedures have already been verified. Buyers do not need to request and assess that information separately.
Fourth, it supports social value reporting. Engagements through NEPRO3 generate social value data that can be used in public sector reporting and monitoring, supporting compliance with the Social Value Act and relevant procurement policy notes.
Services available through the framework
Through NEPRO3, public sector clients can commission the following CPP services:
- Renewable energy development consultancy — solar PV and BESS project development, feasibility, landowner liaison and grid connection management
- Net zero strategy and carbon management — carbon baseline measurement, science-based target setting, net zero roadmap development and stakeholder engagement
- Built environment energy — energy audits, technoeconomic feasibility studies, decarbonisation strategies and microgrid design for local authorities, NHS trusts and housing providers
- SME energy support programmes — design and delivery of funded energy support programmes for small and medium-sized businesses
- G99/G100 training — specialist grid connection training for local authority energy teams, developers and asset managers
- Technical and strategic advisory — independent technical review, due diligence support and expert input on renewable energy and sustainability projects
How to engage CPP through NEPRO3
If you are a public sector organisation and would like to discuss commissioning CPP through the NEPRO3 framework, please contact us directly in the first instance. We can advise on the most appropriate framework category for your requirement and support you through the Bloom process.
Contact us at info@cpp.consulting or call 07779 847 072. You can also initiate a procurement directly through the Bloom platform at bloom.services.
Gate 2 connection offers: what the revised timetable means for your project
When NESO published the results of the Connections Reform process in December 2025, confirming a new pipeline of 283GW of prioritised projects, it marked the single most significant structural change to UK grid connection in a generation. Projects were categorised into Gate 2 Phase 1 (targeting connection by 2030), Gate 2 Phase 2 (targeting 2035), and Gate 1 for those that did not meet the strategic alignment criteria. Connection offers were expected to follow quickly. They have not.
Why the timetable slipped
In January 2026, NESO and the network operators confirmed that issuing connection offers would take longer than originally planned. The reasons were technical: in a number of locations, the volume of Gate 2 projects was higher than forecast, requiring new background assumptions to be established before engineering studies could be completed. Network companies needed time to rerun studies before offers could be issued reliably. The revised timetable published in February 2026 reflects those realities.
The current schedule, updated in April 2026, is as follows. Protected transmission and large embedded connections with 2026 to 2027 dates were due between mid-February and mid-April 2026. Protected distribution offers are running from early March to the end of May 2026. Gate 2 Phase 1 transmission offers are scheduled between mid-May and mid-September 2026. Gate 2 Phase 1 distribution offers follow between early July and mid-November. Phase 2 offers, for both transmission and distribution, run from September 2026 through to March 2027. The next new applications window will open in the second half of 2026, with no earlier than date currently confirmed.
What this means in practice
For developers with projects in the Gate 2 Phase 1 pipeline, the key implication is that connection offer dates are moving later than many had modelled. Projects that assumed a connection offer in Q1 2026 are now looking at Q3 or Q4 in the best case. That has knock-on effects for programme, financing, and in some cases for land option renewals tied to connection milestones.
For projects in Phase 2, the offer window extends well into early 2027. Developers in this group have more time to progress their planning and land position, but also face a longer period of uncertainty over the precise connection terms they will be offered.
Gate 1 projects face a different challenge. They are outside the priority pipeline for both 2030 and 2035, and will need to demonstrate readiness and strategic alignment at a future assessment point to be considered for Gate 2. The criteria for that process have not yet been finalised.
What developers should do now
The first priority is to understand clearly which category your project sits in and what the specific offer timeline is. NESO has published dashboard updates, and the network operators are the primary point of contact for distribution-connected projects. If your project is in the Gate 2 pipeline, use the time before your offer arrives to progress planning, confirm land control documentation, and review financing assumptions against the revised programme.
If you are uncertain about your project’s position or want an independent review of how the Connections Reform outcome affects your development programme, CPP can help. Contact us at info@cpp.consulting.
The UK BESS pipeline in 2026: scale, revenue and what comes next
The UK battery energy storage sector has moved decisively from emerging technology to mainstream infrastructure in the past two years. Planning approvals for BESS projects in Great Britain reached 28.6GW in the first three quarters of 2025 alone, up 92% on the whole of 2024. The pipeline is substantial, the revenue environment is stabilising, and several projects at a scale that would have been unthinkable five years ago are now either under construction or in advanced development.
Scale of ambition
The clearest illustration of how far the sector has come is Thorpe Marsh in Doncaster, a former coal power station site now being redeveloped by Fidra Energy as a 1,400MW, 3,100MWh BESS facility. With close to £1 billion in international investment secured, it is expected to become the largest battery storage facility in Europe when it completes in 2027. Closer to the north east, NatPower UK has announced plans for the Teesside GigaPark at the Wilton International site in Redcar, which would be one of the largest and longest-duration BESS developments in the UK.
These projects represent the upper end of the market, but the broader pipeline is also busy. Planning consent has become increasingly important as a prerequisite for securing grid connections following the Connections Reform process, which has driven a surge in applications across all scales.
Revenue stacking and market maturity
The core commercial model for grid-scale BESS in the UK is revenue stacking: layering income from frequency response services, Capacity Market contracts, Balancing Mechanism trading, and where available, wholesale energy arbitrage. Aurora Energy Research data published earlier in 2026 showed that GB BESS assets doubled revenues in March 2026 compared to prior periods, reflecting both improved market conditions and better optimisation across the fleet.
That said, the Stability Market Round 2 outcome in early 2026 was a notable setback for the sector. NESO awarded no contracts to grid-forming BESS projects in that tender, with synchronous condensers and gas assets winning the available contracts instead. The result raised questions about whether the market framework is yet properly calibrated to value the grid stability services that battery storage can provide, despite the technology having been proven through the Stability Pathfinder programme.
Planning and fire safety
Planning remains a constraint on deployment, particularly at community and local authority level. Concerns about fire risk, visual impact and landscape change continue to generate opposition to individual projects. The industry is responding: major suppliers are voluntarily adopting more stringent fire safety protocols, and proposed 2026 updates to NFPA 855 include large-scale fire testing of complete BESS units. Standardised testing reduces the reliance on conservative setback distances and density restrictions that have historically limited project viability.
CPP provides development management, grid connection management and technoeconomic feasibility services for BESS projects at all stages. If you are developing a battery storage project and would like to discuss grid connection or feasibility, contact us at info@cpp.consulting.
Solar farms and agricultural land: understanding the planning tension
The approval of the Springwell Solar Farm in Lincolnshire in April 2026 brought the tension between large-scale solar development and agricultural land protection into sharp focus. At 800MW across 1,280 hectares, it is set to become the UK’s largest solar farm. Two local councils, including one controlled by Reform UK, have since announced legal challenges, arguing that the approval process failed to properly weigh the cumulative impact on high-quality farmland and rural communities.
The debate is not new, but it is intensifying. CPRE research published in mid-2025 found that 59% of England’s largest operational solar farms are located on productive farmland, with almost a third of that area classified as Best and Most Versatile (BMV) land. The government, meanwhile, is targeting 45 to 57GW of solar capacity by 2030, roughly 2.5 times what was installed as of early 2025. Meeting that target without significant use of agricultural land is, by almost any analysis, extremely difficult.
What the planning framework says
The National Planning Policy Framework protects BMV agricultural land, which covers Grades 1, 2 and 3a. Solar farm applications on BMV land are frequently challenged and sometimes refused at local level, though the picture at Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project level is different. Since the current government took office, only one NSIP solar application has been rejected nationally. The NSIP threshold itself was raised from 50MW to 100MW in December 2025, meaning projects between 50MW and 100MW now go through the faster local planning route rather than the DCO process.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill, currently progressing through Parliament, includes changes to the NSIP process that would tighten the procedure for legal challenge, including a mechanism to designate cases as being without merit. The direction of travel from government is clearly towards faster consenting, not slower.
What this means for developers
For developers, the practical implications are twofold. First, agricultural land classification is not just a planning risk, it is increasingly a reputational and community relations issue. Projects on lower-grade land, or with strong biodiversity commitments, are better placed both at planning and in the communities they will operate alongside for decades. Second, the legal challenge route is becoming more contested. Developers should expect NSIP approvals to face judicial review attempts from local authorities, and should build that risk into their programme and financing assumptions.
CPP provides development management and feasibility services for solar PV projects at all scales, including site selection advice that takes agricultural land classification and community engagement into account from the outset. Contact us at info@cpp.consulting to discuss a project.
Gate 2 grid connections: what developers need to know in 2026
The UK grid connection queue has been one of the biggest constraints on renewable energy deployment over the past five years. At its peak, projects were waiting up to 15 years for a connection, with the combined queue representing many times the total installed capacity of the UK power system. The introduction of the Gate 2 process by Ofgem and National Grid ESO recently, and its subsequent reform recently, has fundamentally changed how developers must approach grid connection.
What is Gate 2?
Gate 2 is the second of three stages in the revised connection process introduced under the Connections Action Plan. At Gate 2, a developer must provide evidence that their project is genuinely ready to progress — including site control, planning consent or a credible planning programme, and demonstration of financial commitment. Projects that cannot satisfy Gate 2 requirements are removed from the queue.
The intention is to eliminate speculative applications — projects entered into the queue with no realistic prospect of delivery — that were clogging the system and preventing genuinely ready projects from connecting.
What has changed recently?
The recent reforms strengthened the Gate 2 requirements in several important respects. Developers must now demonstrate:
- Full site control (option agreement, lease or freehold) covering the entire project area
- A valid planning consent or a submitted planning application with a credible timetable to consent
- Evidence of project financing or a credible financing plan supported by a named institution
- Completed ecological and environmental surveys at the level required to support a planning application
These are materially more demanding than the original Gate 2 criteria, and a significant number of projects that cleared the initial Gate 2 recently will face challenges meeting the revised 2025 criteria at the Gate 2 review point.
What does this mean for solar and BESS developers?
For developers with genuinely advanced projects, the reforms are welcome — they improve queue position and reduce the risk of being delayed by speculative projects ahead of them. For developers who entered the queue early but have not progressed their projects, the reforms represent a serious challenge.
The most important implication for developers is the need to genuinely align the grid connection programme with the planning programme. A planning consent or credible planning timetable is now a Gate 2 requirement, not an optional extra. Developers who have historically treated the grid connection as a parallel, largely independent track need to integrate it with the planning programme from the outset.
Our experience
At CPP, our team has hands-on experience navigating Gate 2 across multiple projects in the all major DNO regions areas. Our team has spoken at major industry events on Gate 2 processes and has supported clients through the Gate 2 requirements, including negotiating connection agreements, coordinating with DNO teams, and preparing the documentary evidence required at Gate 2 review.
The Gate 2 reforms are ultimately good for the industry. They create a faster, more predictable connection process for projects that are genuinely ready. The challenge is that “genuinely ready” now means something much more demanding than it did even two years ago.
What should developers do now?
If you have a project in the grid connection queue, we recommend a prompt review of your Gate 2 position against the recent criteria. Key actions include: confirming that your site control documentation covers the full project boundary; reviewing your planning timetable and confirming it will support your Gate 2 review date; and engaging early with your DNO to understand the likely connection offer terms.
If you would like to discuss your project, our team is happy to provide an initial consultation. Contact us at info@cpp.consulting.
How compressed air leaks are costing your business thousands every year
Walk around almost any manufacturing facility and you will hear it: a faint hiss from a joint, a fitting, or a valve that nobody has got round to fixing. Compressed air leaks are so common that most sites treat them as background noise. That is an expensive habit.
What compressed air actually costs
Compressed air is one of the most energy-intensive utilities in industrial operations. Generating it is inherently inefficient: the vast majority of the electrical energy fed into a compressor is lost as heat during the compression process, with only a small fraction converted into usable pneumatic energy at the point of use. Every unit of compressed air that leaks before reaching an application represents a near-total waste of the electricity used to generate it.
A well-maintained system will typically lose a proportion of its output to leaks. A poorly maintained system can lose substantially more. For a site with significant compressed air infrastructure, the annual cost of unaddressed leaks can run to tens of thousands of pounds, and in larger operations considerably more, with no productive output to show for it.
Why sites do not fix it
The answer is usually not cost or complexity. Leak repairs are generally straightforward and inexpensive. The barrier is visibility. Unlike a broken machine or a failed sensor, a compressed air leak does not stop production. It simply runs up the energy bill quietly, month after month, buried in a utilities invoice that nobody scrutinises at line level.
Ultrasonic leak detection surveys can identify and quantify leaks across an entire site in a few hours. The payback period on acting on the findings is typically short, often within the first year. It is consistently one of the highest-return energy efficiency interventions available to any industrial operation, and one of the most consistently underutilised.
Beyond leak repair
Leak repair is the starting point, not the finish line. Once a site has addressed its leaks, the next question is whether the system is operating at the right pressure. Most compressed air systems run at higher pressure than their applications actually require, and every unnecessary bar of pressure represents additional energy consumption across the whole system. Pressure optimisation, variable speed drive compressors, and heat recovery from compressor waste heat are all further opportunities that typically deliver strong returns.
What CPP offers
CPP provides compressed air system energy audits as part of our broader industrial energy management services. We identify and quantify energy saving opportunities across the full compressed air system, prioritise them by return and ease of implementation, and provide a costed action plan your team can act on immediately.
If you would like to discuss an energy audit for your site, contact us at info@cpp.consulting.
Navigating the planning system for battery energy storage projects
Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are a critical enabler of the UK’s net zero power system. The ability to store electricity generated from solar and wind when supply exceeds demand, and release it when demand exceeds supply, is fundamental to a system powered predominantly by variable renewable generation. Yet despite their importance, BESS projects have faced significant planning challenges, particularly in England, as local planning authorities and communities grapple with a technology that is relatively new and not well understood.
The planning landscape for BESS in England
BESS projects in England are assessed under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and relevant National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) provisions. The 2023 NPPF introduced a stronger presumption in favour of applications for renewable energy and low-carbon development, including energy storage, which was helpful. However, the day-to-day planning experience for BESS developers remains challenging.
Local planning authorities vary enormously in their familiarity with and attitude to BESS. Some have clear policies supporting energy storage. Others have no specific policy, and officers are left to apply general development management principles to a technology they may never have encountered before. A small number have adopted policies that are actively hostile to BESS, typically citing visual impact, landscape concerns, or fire safety.
Fire safety: the dominant planning concern
The most significant planning challenge for BESS in recent years has been fire safety. A number of high-profile BESS fires internationally — including at installations in the US, South Korea and Australia — have generated significant community concern about the safety of battery installations in the UK. Several large BESS planning applications have been refused or substantially delayed by local planning authorities citing fire safety concerns, often despite the applicant having submitted detailed fire risk assessments prepared by specialist fire engineers.
The publication of BS EN IEC 62933-5-2 and guidance from the National Fire Chiefs Council has helped to establish a clearer framework for fire risk assessment for grid-scale BESS. The key is to engage with fire safety at the pre-application stage, involve the local fire and rescue service early, and provide a detailed, site-specific fire risk assessment and emergency response plan as part of the planning application.
Our BESS planning experience
CPP has supported BESS projects through the planning process across multiple sites in England and Scotland. Our approach prioritises early pre-application engagement with the local planning authority, thorough environmental assessment, proactive community engagement, and the preparation of clear, accessible documentation that addresses community concerns directly. Contact us to discuss how we can support your BESS project through planning.
The untapped opportunity in UK solar carports
Solar carports — canopy structures over car parking areas fitted with photovoltaic panels — represent one of the most underexploited opportunities in UK commercial solar development. They offer a combination of benefits that ground-mount and rooftop solar cannot always match: dual use of land, shade and weather protection for vehicles, EV charging integration, and high visibility for corporate sustainability commitments. Yet despite these advantages, the UK solar carport market remains relatively underdeveloped compared to markets in France, Germany and the Netherlands.
The planning advantage
One of the most significant advantages of solar carports over ground-mount solar is the planning treatment. In many cases, solar carports can be installed under permitted development rights in commercial and industrial settings, avoiding the need for a full planning application. Where planning permission is required, the dual-use argument — the structure provides covered parking as well as generating electricity — can be a powerful one with local planning authorities, particularly in locations where additional parking infrastructure would be broadly welcomed.
The financial case
The financial case for solar carports has strengthened considerably as panel and mounting system costs have fallen. A typical commercial solar carport will generate electricity at a cost well below the current UK commercial electricity price, delivering bill savings from day one of operation. With the addition of EV charging — using solar-generated electricity to charge staff and visitor vehicles — the return on investment improves further. Battery storage integration allows the system to shift generation to periods of higher value, including grid export during peak pricing periods.
EV charging integration
The rapid growth in electric vehicle adoption in the UK creates a powerful co-investment opportunity with solar carports. EV charging infrastructure requires significant electrical capacity, and solar generation co-located with charging reduces the grid import required, reducing infrastructure costs and electricity bills simultaneously. For sites with ambitions to provide free or low-cost EV charging to staff or customers, solar carports can make this economically viable.
Our solar carport experience
CPP has supported solar carport development for a range of commercial and local authority clients, including feasibility studies, planning applications, technical specifications and contractor procurement. If you have a large car park and would like to explore the potential for solar carports, contact us at info@cpp.consulting.