429 projects across England have been confirmed to receive funding from Phase 1 of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, while Phase 2 has been announced by the Government.
The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme provides grants for public sector bodies to fund energy efficiency and heat decarbonisation measures, funding low carbon heating systems, such as heat pumps, and energy efficiency measures like insulation and LED lighting.
After applications for Phase 1 closed on Monday 11 January 2021, 317 public sector organisations have been awarded funding for 429 energy efficiency and heat decarbonisation projects to reduce carbon emissions from public buildings including hospitals, schools and council buildings, valued at £932 million so far.
The list of successful projects features local authorities, NHS trusts, further and higher education institutions, schools and government departments.
In total, different areas received the following amounts of funding:
- North East: £57,460,577
- Yorkshire and Humber: £154,291,815
- North West: £123,564,815
- East Midlands: £66,173,951
- West Midlands: £60,237,846
- East of England: £84,757,650
- South East: £122,567,215
- South West: £109,473,503
- Greater London: £143,233,317
- Across Regions: £9,413,812
- Wales: £1,073,683
- Total: £932,248,184
- (Please note that each project has been placed in the region where the grant recipients are located, but the actual investment may not always take place in that region.)
The list of confirmed projects will be added to on a rolling basis as grants are confirmed, until all funding has been allocated.
The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme was launched by The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in October, and is delivered by Salix.
Referred to as the Grant Scheme, the £1 billion scheme is part of the Chancellor’s ‘Plan for Jobs 2020’ commitment to support the UK’s economic recovery from COVID, supporting up to 30,000 skilled jobs in the low carbon and energy efficiency sectors.
The second phase of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, which provides £75 million of grant funding for the financial year 2021 to 2022, has also been announced.
The second phase will have a stronger focus on heat decarbonisation in order to deliver greater carbon emission reductions, seeking to support the public sector in taking a ‘whole building’ approach when decarbonising their estates.
Applications for the second phase must meet two new key criteria:
- Applicants must be using a fossil-fuelled heating system; and
- The heating system in question must be coming to the end of its useful life
Grants up to £5m will be available, with no minimum amount to apply for.
The organisations eligible to apply are the same as for Phase 1. These include:
- Central government departments and their arm’s length bodies (set out in the list of departments, agencies and public bodies as published on .GOV.UK). For central government departments where their roles are reserved (i.e. not devolved to Scottish or Welsh Governments or the Northern Ireland Executive), funding may be used for estates located anywhere within the UK
- Emergency services
- Institutions of further and higher education
- Local authorities
- Maintained schools within the state education system, including academies, Multi-Academy Trusts and free schools
- Nursery schools maintained by a local authority
- NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts
Phase 2 opens to applications at 2pm on 7 April 2021, and will close when sufficient high-quality applications have been submitted.
Successful projects need to be complete by 31 March 2022.
The announcement of successful Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme coincides with the Government unveiling the new Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy.
More information about the Phase 1 Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme grant recipients is available on the Government website.
More information about Phase 2 and how to apply is available on the Salix website.
