Background:
Princess Alexandra Hospitals NHS Trust (PAH) is located in Harlow, Essex and is a 489 bedded District General Hospital providing a comprehensive range of safe and reliable acute and specialist services to a local population of over 250,000.

The Requirement:
Like all public sector establishments, the Trust needs to meet the dual challenge of high energy costs and CO2 emission targets. The answer lies in renewable technology but any investment in the NHS Trust sector, if not properly financed, threatens precious capital budgets.

The Solution:
The Trust chose AFM Solutions to advise on funding for the project: an operating lease over 8 years and rentals in the primary period tailored to the combined grid savings and Feed in Tariff income.

Georgina King, Deputy Finance Director states: “It was key to the Trust that the project be funded by way of an Operating Lease: our capital funding was under pressure and any other form of funding would not have given us the combination of revenue utilisation matched with FiT income. The Trust can now count on a secure form of finance with considerable FiT revenues and reduced CO2 costs over the next 2 decades.”

The Benefits:

• Energy costs are now lowered & carbon-based targets achieved earlier

• Cash neutral solution with payments tailored to savings and FiT revenues over 8 years

• Over the 20 year FiT period, the Trust is expected to make a net surplus of more than £450,000 from this project.