This week, the Scottish Government launched a new £20 million grant fund to help public sector organisations decarbonise their buildings.
The fund, called Scotland’s Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund, will replace the long-running Scottish Energy Efficiency Loan Scheme. As part of the Scottish Government’s wider plan to spend £1.8 billion on decarbonising Scotland’s buildings in this current parliamentary session, the aim of the fund is to reduce emissions from public sector buildings by 80% by 2030, and to achieve net zero emissions by 2045.
Who can use the fund?
The fund will be open to local authorities, universities, and arm’s-length external organisations.
Only public sector bodies with borrowing powers can apply to the new fund. Applicants will be required to provide 20% match funding for projects.
What heat decarbonisation measures are funded?
- The installation of heat pumps
- The use of district heating networks
- The retrofitting of buildings with insulation
- The development of new low-carbon technologies
Patrick Harvie, Zero Carbon Buildings Minister, said:
“Scotland’s buildings account for approximately a fifth of all our emissions and our aim is to ensure that, by 2045, our buildings no longer contribute to climate change. This means that our schools, offices, hospitals, libraries, and homes will all need to improve their energy efficiency and install zero emissions heating.
“Public sector bodies have already achieved a lot, but we need to go further. The design of the new scheme reflects the changing needs of the sector, allowing public sector organisations to invest in projects with higher capital costs and which cannot always be invested in on a spend to save basis.
“Moving from a loan scheme to direct grant awards for the first time represents a very significant commitment from the Scottish Government to support the delivery of these challenging targets.”
Alongside the PSHD fund, the Scottish Government is also providing £10 million in funding to support the development of a heat decarbonisation roadmap for the public sector. The roadmap will set out a clear pathway for how public sector buildings can be decarbonised in a cost-effective and sustainable way.
Who is administrating the scheme?
Scotland’s Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund is being delivered on behalf of the Scottish Government by Salix Finance, which operates the existing Scottish Energy Efficiency Loan Scheme.
More than £75 million has so far been invested in energy efficiency projects in Scotland through the existing scheme, which is forecast to save the public sector more than £202 million over the lifetime of the projects.
Applications will open via the Salix Finance website later this summer.
Talk to Priva
If you are a Scottish-based public sector organisation and you’re looking at new ways to decarbonise your buildings with cloud-based (or, on-premise) intelligent building technologies, please contact us – or drop a line to our Business Development Manager for Scotland, Malcolm McKechnie through LinkedIn.
