Yorkshire Water has awarded an AMP8 contract for a location based renewable energy solution at its Blackburn Meadows waste water treatment works with a total estimated value of £24 million including VAT.

The contract has been awarded to a single supplier for technical reasons following a market engagement exercise.

The water company required a supply of c.25GWh p/a of low Carbon 'Behind the Meter' electricity at its Blackburn Meadows waste water treatment works in Sheffield.

The supplier is required to deliver all of the following;

• Be capable of delivering 25GWh of power per year at a carbon intensity of not more than the UK average.
• Have a guaranteed up time in excess of 90% across a contract year;
• Be available to supply power within 12-18 months.
• Provide an alternative 'firm' power supply to YW providing resilience to its existing DNO connections.
• Be capable of interfacing with YWs existing, and planned, CHP and solar generation on site.

Yorkshire Water also specified that the solution must be fully developed or in late stage development and that the solution:

• was planning and grid secured
• had ratified Carbon intensity numbers
• was registered with Ofgem to receive REGOs.

The contract has been awarded to E.ON UK Ltd - earliest date the contract will be signed is 21 October 2026. Current estimated start and end contract dates are 1 June 2027 to 31 May 2034.

Yorkshire Water conducted a market engagement exercise early in 2026 to which a number of companies submitted responses.

The market engagement exercise was carried out to understand whether there were suppliers capable of delivering renewable private wire electricity to sites across the Yorkshire Water operational estate.

The market engagement demonstrated that while there were a number of suppliers capable of meeting Yorkshire Water’s requirements across its estate, only a single respondent was capable of meeting the requirements at its Blackburn Meadows waste water treatment works in Sheffield.

Commenting on the single supplier contract award, Yorkshire Water said:

“As a result, a competitive tendering process would not generate genuine competition and a direct award is justified as a feasible route to delivering the required services within the desired timeframes and to the required quality standards.”