An Executive Summary on Return on Investment Considerations

Decarbonisation of Catholic Parish Sites in England and Wales 2023

Details are available here but:

1. Decarbonisation or something close to it of parish sites is technically possible now using solar panels, batteries and heat pumps. Where appropriate, installing insulation, etc. should improve matters further.
2. The time to repay the investment of environmental capital is roughly 3 to 7 years.
3. Well-researched calculations suggest that the financial return on investment of solar panels, battery storage and heat pumps is roughly of 11 to 18 years.
4. These figures assume payments for exporting excess electricity of 5p per kWh but 15p or more is available and 15p/kWh could improve the financial return on investment on the most attractive projects by a further 2 or 3 years.
5. Where existing heating systems are reaching the end of their life, the capital costs of heat pumps can be offset against replacing like for like. It is rarely the case that heat pumps can be quickly installed when an existing heat system has failed.
6. There are currently grants of £7500 per building to replace boilers with heat pumps for smaller halls and churches but not presbyteries. Separate grants may be available for presbyteries. Even if physically connected if they have separate heating systems, halls and churches might be treated as 2 buildings and thus £7500 each, potentially meaning only a very small contribution would be needed.
7. Collective procurement should improve the return on investment further.

In addition, the following should be noted

1. The financial capital investments in sites will add to the capital value of the sites with the worst case being any equipment could be moved between sites within a diocese or sold on the open market.
2. It is common practice for such equipment and future revenues obtained to be sold to commercial investment and asset management company. Thus if capital were needed for other purposes these are assets that could be used to raise this capital.
3. Even with infrequently used sites, the long-term payback may cover other maintenance and operating costs of the site.
4. Managing the installation of such equipment is not trivial and priests cannot be expected to take this on. If one or more long-term installation and maintenance partners are approved by one or more dioceses then as trust is built more of the project management role could be moved to them. At least in the short term, dioceses will need to maintain close control and this could be by diocese staff or perhaps ‘deanery managers’ with experience in buildings who could be appointed on 5 years contracts. These deanery managers might be experienced electricians who are now struggling with the physical demands of their role and could also have responsibility for ensuring existing maintenance tasks such as boiler servicing and risk assessments. Actual installations could be carried out by local installers from the MCS register contracted to the installation partner(s).

Next steps:

1. Obtain more accurate figures for installation costs (including grants) to improve the accuracy of figures. Given the current high demand for installing such systems, some level of commitment may be needed. For example, allow the survey of all sites in a diocese for PV suitability with a commitment to inclusion in bidding processes for phased installations. Initial desk studies of sites across a diocese need not include site visits with the effort involved for all including priests.
2. Caveat – the number of detailed in-depth case studies of installing heat pumps in churches and halls that are used in the way that Catholic parishes are used in England and Wales are limited so the figures for these will need improving based on a number of pioneer or pilot sites that are carefully monitored.
3. Consideration of project management will be needed quite soon but this could focus on pioneer parishes, limiting diocese commitment.

Summary by Mark, contributions from Gervas and Alan. To contact the authors, please use the website contact form mentioning “decarbonisation” in the message.