I run feasibility studies for companies, SMEs, and research consortia that need to decide whether a decarbonisation project is worth pursuing (technically, economically, environmentally, and commercially) before committing significant capital to the next stage. The deliverable is a clear go/no-go recommendation with the reasoning behind it.
Most clients come to me when they have a promising decarbonisation idea, a board or investor who wants evidence before committing, and no in-house team that can run the full, multi-dimensional assessment from a single, coherent perspective. Engagements range from a focused four-week scoping study to multi-month, multi-technology feasibility assessments.
If you already know you need a feasibility study, book a scoping call at the bottom of this page. If you are still working out whether you need one, the rest of this page is written for you.
When you need a feasibility study
A feasibility study is the right next step in four common situations.
- Before a board paper or investment committee submission. You need a defensible answer to “should we do this?” — covering technical viability, economics, environmental impact, and commercial fit, in one document, with the assumptions exposed.
- Before a grant or competitive funding bid. Innovate UK, DESNZ, Horizon Europe, IDRIC, and similar funders increasingly expect a structured feasibility narrative with quantified outputs, not just a technology readiness story.
- Before choosing between strategic routes. Build versus buy. Solvent capture versus solid sorbents. On-site hydrogen versus off-take from a cluster. A feasibility study gives you a structured comparison on shared criteria.
- Before scaling from concept to pilot. If the project does not survive a multi-dimensional feasibility check at concept stage, that is cheaper to learn now than after pilot capital is committed.
If your question is at TRL 1 to 2 and the technical risk is still the dominant uncertainty, a feasibility study can be premature — you may need lab-scale validation first. At TRL 7 and above, you usually need a FEED study rather than a feasibility assessment. The sweet spot is TRL 3 to 6, where the technical question is answerable and the economic and environmental questions are starting to matter.
What a feasibility study answers
Every feasibility study is built around three to five specific key questions agreed with you in the scoping call. The questions act as the contract — they define what you will get an answer to. Typical examples:
- Is this technology technically viable at the scale and conditions you intend to operate? What are the critical technical risks?
- What is the economic case? Cost per tonne of CO2 avoided, NPV, IRR, levelised cost under a range of input assumptions.
- What is the environmental impact, life-cycle and Scope 1/2/3?
- Who is the market — and is the market willing to pay? Customer interviews, willingness-to-pay analysis, competitive positioning.
- What regulatory and policy regime applies, and how does it change the answer? Carbon pricing, hydrogen subsidies, CBAM, ETS, regional incentives.
- What is the right next step — pilot, demonstrator, partner search, kill?
You do not get a single number. You get a go/no-go recommendation, the reasoning behind it, the critical assumptions, and a clear view of the next decision the project has to make.
How I run a feasibility study
The methodology follows a phased approach — framing, assessment, conclusion and recommendation — adapted from the standard engineering consulting model and refined across decarbonisation projects.
1. Framing
Scope confirmation, key questions, system boundary, success criteria. This phase usually takes one to two weeks and ends with a short framing memo so we are aligned on what is in scope before any assessment begins. Many feasibility studies are saved or broken in this phase — when the question is sharpened, sometimes the scope shrinks dramatically.
2. Assessment
The substantive work — split across four dimensions, each scoped to the question:
- Technical. Process modelling, mass-energy balance, equipment requirements, technical risks, TRL assessment, scale-up considerations.
- Economic. CAPEX, OPEX, NPV, IRR, levelised cost, sensitivity, Monte Carlo where uncertainty matters. (This is where the techno-economic assessment sits inside a broader feasibility study.)
- Environmental. Life-cycle impact, carbon footprint, regulatory exposure (CBAM, ETS), comparison against incumbent.
- Commercial. Market sizing, customer interviews where appropriate, competitive landscape, willingness-to-pay, partnership and route-to-market options.
3. Conclusion and recommendation
Synthesis across the four dimensions, key risks and how to mitigate them, recommended next steps with rough cost and timeline estimates. The conclusion is framed as a decision the client has to make, not as a data summary. Where the recommendation is to kill or pause the project, that is said directly — wasting more money on a dead-end is the worst outcome of a feasibility study.
What you receive
The standard deliverable set has three components.
- Confidential technical report. Full methodology, assumptions, data sources, results across the four dimensions, and conclusions with recommended next steps. Written so a technical reviewer at IEAGHG, DESNZ, or a major operator can audit the work line by line.
- Executive summary and presentation deck. A standalone two-to-four-page executive summary plus a twenty-to-thirty-slide deck for the board, investment committee, or grant submission. Pitched for decision-makers who need the answer and the implications, not the derivation.
- Supporting calculation files. Process models, TEA spreadsheets, LCA inventory, and market data, so your in-house team can interrogate or extend the work after the engagement ends.
Where a feasibility study sits alongside TEA and LCA
A feasibility study packages techno-economic, life cycle, technical, and commercial assessment together to answer the strategic question. The narrower services answer single dimensions.
| Service | What it answers |
|---|---|
| Techno-economic assessment | Is this project economically viable, and under what assumptions? |
| Life cycle assessment | What is the cradle-to-grave environmental impact, including embodied emissions? |
| Feasibility studies | Should we do this at all — technically, economically, environmentally, commercially? |
| Process modelling and design | Does the process work on paper, and what are the design choices? |
If your question is narrow — “is this economically viable?” — a TEA on its own is usually the right scope. If the question is broader — “should we do this at all?” — a feasibility study is the right shape. The scoping call sorts which one fits.
Sectors and technologies I cover
I have run feasibility studies across a wide span of decarbonisation technologies. The strongest published track record is in:
- Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) — including hub-and-cluster infrastructure, single-asset retrofits, and novel solvents and sorbents
- Direct air capture (DAC) — including site selection, energy integration, and route-to-market
- Hydrogen production and use — blue, green, and pink routes, including off-take and cluster integration
- Industrial cluster decarbonisation — multi-asset strategies, shared infrastructure, regional net zero pathways
- Waste-to-energy with CCUS — including biogenic CO2 removal pathways
- Heat decarbonisation — industrial and domestic, including heat pump and district heating projects
If your sector or technology is not on this list, ask anyway. The framework is sector-agnostic; the technical and market analysis is the part that adapts.
How we work together
Every engagement follows the same five-step shape, scaled to the size of the project.
Step 1. Scoping call
A free 30-minute call. We agree what you need, who the audience is, what decision the work is feeding, and roughly how big the engagement is. I will tell you honestly if a a feasibility study is the wrong tool for your question.
Step 2. Outline proposal
A short written proposal: three to five key questions, numbered tasks, deliverables, hours per task, day rates, total cost, and timeline. Payment is usually structured as 50% on commissioning and 50% on delivery, though terms can be adjusted for institutional clients with longer procurement cycles.
Step 3. Engagement
Work proceeds through the agreed tasks with fortnightly check-ins for engagements over four weeks. Larger projects use a Gantt schedule. I flag risks early — particularly when an assumption I had to make at the start turns out to be wrong.
Step 4. Deliverables
Final report, deck, and calculation files. A presentation session with your team to walk through findings and answer questions.
Step 5. Follow-up
A 30-day window for follow-up questions on the work, included in the engagement. Many clients then commission a follow-on scope.
Common questions
What is a feasibility study?
A feasibility study is a structured assessment of whether a project is viable across the dimensions that determine its success — technical, economic, environmental, and commercial. The output is a go/no-go recommendation, the reasoning, and a recommended next step. It sits at the early stage of project development, before significant capital is committed.
What is the difference between a feasibility study and a TEA?
A techno-economic assessment focuses on the economic dimension — is it viable economically, and under what assumptions. A feasibility study is broader: it covers TEA plus environmental impact, market and commercial fit, and regulatory exposure. Most feasibility studies include a TEA inside them; not every TEA is part of a feasibility study.
How long does a feasibility study take?
A focused single-technology feasibility study usually takes eight to twelve weeks. A multi-technology comparison, with primary market research and stakeholder interviews, can take three to six months. Anything faster than eight weeks tends to involve scope cuts I will recommend against.
What does a feasibility study cost?
Engagements range from roughly £15,000 for a tightly scoped single-technology feasibility study with literature-based inputs, up to £120,000 or more for a full multi-technology, multi-scenario assessment with primary market research, customer interviews, and Monte Carlo uncertainty quantification. The proposal stage gives you a transparent breakdown of hours and day rates.
Can a feasibility study include stakeholder interviews?
Yes. For projects where customer willingness-to-pay or partner alignment is the critical uncertainty, the assessment phase can include five to fifteen structured interviews with prospective customers, suppliers, regulators, or partner organisations. The scope of interviews is agreed in the framing phase.
Can you do feasibility work under an NDA?
Yes. Most clients prefer to. Send your standard form to contact@drhanak.com.
What if the recommendation is to kill the project?
That is part of the work. A feasibility study where the answer is “do not pursue this” is more valuable than one that hedges diplomatically. Killing a dead-end project early saves you the cost of building a pilot for it. The report will say so directly and explain the reasoning so you can take the decision to the board with confidence.
Get started
If you have a decarbonisation project that needs a feasibility study, the next step is a 30-minute scoping call. No fee, no obligation, and I will tell you honestly if a feasibility study is the wrong shape of work for your question.
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