Meet the Ambassadors - Avi Baidya
Avi Baidya, Business Development Head of Universities and Higher Education for SSE Energy Solutions, spent some time with us to discuss his views, experiences and goals when it comes to the University and Higher Education Market and their journey to net zero.
What is your role and what do you do for SSE?
I focus on client development in the University and HE sector for the Distributed Energy team. I ‘ve been with SSE group for nearly five years originally starting with the TESGL business as Head of Client Development for their Major Projects team, developing long term end-user, higher level relationships for our BEMS business. About 2 years ago, having successfully won our first university whole system thinking project at the University of Surrey, I was invited to join the investment side of our business, joining the DE business development team to develop and grow our presence in the University & Higher Education (HE) sector.
What are the key challenges that University businesses face? How does it impact them when trying to decarbonise or reach net zero?
There are many challenges facing universities and, in some ways, these are uncertain times for the sector. The threats presented through declining enrolment, changing student demographics and their increasing demands, increased competition amongst academic institutions, rising costs, keeping up with technology, cyber-security, political instability, and climate change – all play a role in influencing the future direction for universities.
With many institutions having already declared climate emergencies and some declaring net zero carbon emissions goals, the university sector is under increasing pressure to deliver these targets, whilst maintaining the highest level of academic excellence and value for money for ever-more discerning students.
Can you tell us how the Education market can benefit from the support of SSE?
As a wholly UK owned energy solutions provider SSE Energy Solutions invests in low carbon infrastructure assets nationally across the UK. As such, we work closely with the University & HE sector, to support their progression to achieve net zero carbon across their physical estates. Working alongside the university, our experts design, build, as well as, adopt and manage complex energy networks, taking full responsibility for the resilience and performance, whilst improving energy efficiency and sustainability in the process.
Our collaboration with universities can often extend beyond the decarbonisation of their physical estates to include support for social value engagement in wider communities. I’m extremely proud that SSE's Social Value strategy is underpinned by our group-wide goal to ‘Champion a fair and just energy transition’ and this allows us to build trusted partnerships with regional communities. Working together with Universities and their local community is crucial for promoting sustainability and implementing energy-efficient solutions.
By providing the financing, as well as the engineering design and delivery expertise we can often enable what would otherwise be “stalled” university or local community projects.
Tell us about a project that you've worked on incorporating decarbonisation as its focus?
In November 2021, SSE Distributed Energy was awarded preferred bidder status against the University of Surrey's invitation to tender (ITT) for a Strategic Partnership to Deliver Net Zero by 2030. I was fortunate to work in a multi-disciplined team to develop the project which involved the creation of a Smart Energy System to help decarbonise the University by approx. 5,000TCO2/yr. The main focus of our proposed solution was a 12.2MW ground mount Solar PV farm with a circa 4km private wire connection back to the university. Also proposed was the retrofit of an energy centre housing existing end-of-life CHP & gas boilers supplying a heat network to 23 of the Universities largest teaching and educational buildings.
As another example, we are also currently exploring the feasibility of using green geothermal energy to supply the University of Warwick with low-carbon sustainable heat. This process involves the drilling of test boreholes at two different locations on their campus and then carrying out various tests throughout the process to validate the scheme. If these tests prove successful, sub-surface ground water with all-year-round consistent temperature could be abstracted to potentially supply two energy-efficient open-loop water source heat pump (WSHP) energy centres for both the University’s existing heat network and a new energy system on campus. The test borehole drilling project involves tapping into the earth's natural thermal energy, a completely renewable and green energy source, from depths of up to 350 metres and it is hoped this could help the University of Warwick achieve its net zero targets.
How does a Whole System Thinking approach support your clients?
As a strategy, our Whole System Thinking approach demonstrates our commitment to supporting universities in achieving their net zero carbon goals. Our comprehensive approach to financing, engineering, and management of the low carbon energy infrastructure technologies that we deploy makes SSE Energy Solutions a valuable partner for advancing sustainability in the university and higher education sector.
Building partnerships with universities not only contributes to their own net zero ambitions but also fosters innovation and research in sustainable practices which benefits the wider communities, local authorities & cities in which we all live. It aligns with SSE’s broader goals of creating a greener and more sustainable energy future for us all.
