Decarbonisation Scheme Provides Grants up to 100% of the Total Costs of Capital Energy Savings Projects

The recently launched Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) provides grants for public sector bodies to fund energy efficiency and heat decarbonisation measures. The scheme allows public sector bodies (PSBs) including eligible central government departments, and their non-departmental public bodies in England, to apply for a grant to finance up to 100% of the costs of capital energy-saving projects that meet the scheme criteria.

Am I eligible to apply for a grant?

The following public sector bodies in England are eligible to apply for the Grant Scheme.

■□ Emergency services
■□ Institutions of further and higher education
■□ Local authorities
■□ NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts
■□ Non-departmental public bodies²
■□ Maintained schools within the state education system, including academies, Multi-Academy Trusts and free 
      schools; nursery schools maintained by a local authority
■□ Central government departments and their arm’s length bodies (set out in Public Bodies¹ as published by t
      the Cabinet Office)
■□ For central government departments where their roles are reserved (i.e. not devolved to Scottish, Welsh and
     Northern Irish Governments) funding may be used for estates located anywhere within the UK.

What is the scheme criteria?

Grants are available via Salix to finance up to 100% of the costs of capital energy saving projects that meet the scheme criteria.

■□ The projects are taking place in buildings for which the Applicant pays the energy bills and will benefit from
      any resulting savings. Eligible bodies which do not own the building but have a long-term lease
      arrangement can apply, provided the contract allows for any savings to be passed to the eligible body public
      funds
■□ The cost to save a tonne of carbon (CO₂e) over the lifetime of the project must be no more than £500, which
      is automatically calculated by the Support Tool in the Grant Application Form. Please note that projects
      within Category 3 are exempt from this criterion. 
■□ The Grant Scheme is primarily for capital works, however external consultancy and management fees may
      be included. Existing employee costs or any costs previously incurred may not be included. Further
      enabling costs not eligible for the Grant Scheme may be eligible for the Low Carbon Skills Fund where they
      are related to support to deliver the project.
■□ Reasonable enabling and ancillary works may be included in the Application, provided they are directly 
     linked to the core technologies being installed, and these will be reviewed for value for money.

Roof insulation and Solar PV are considered category 2 measures. They must therefore be combined with a category 1 measure in order to fit the criteria. Category 1 measures are as follows:

■□ Air Source Heat Pump (air to water)
■□ Ground Source Heat Pump
■□ Water Source Heat Pump
■□ Connect to existing district heating
■□ Heating - electric heating

How can Bauder help?

As part of the Bauder service, we can support PSDS applications by assisting with the decision making process, providing a photovoltaic design and evidencing the energy savings of upgrading your building’s insulation. We can assist our surveying partners in putting together a solar PV and heat pump specification in combination with our installation partners, and we can help our clients in multi-academy trusts and local authorities to identify which schemes are the most suitable.

This is an unmissable opportunity if you are looking to reduce your running costs and minimise your carbon footprint. Given the timeframe the sooner we make a submission the better, so please do get in touch so that we can start the process.