European Regional Development Fund

Energy Efficiency Grant FundingERDF is offering an energy efficiency grant to help businesses save money and greenhouse gas emissions by improving the energy efficiency of their workspace.

The energy efficiency grant covers between 25% – 40% of the overall cost (capital and installation) of the project.

Depending on the individual scheme, the minimum grant is £1,000 and the max. £10,000 which means the min project value needs to be between £2,500 (at a 40% intervention rate) and £4,000 (at a 25% intervention rate).

Is your Organisation Eligible?

To qualify for an energy efficiency grant, you will need to meet the eligibility criteria and explain how your project demonstrates best practice, versus standard replacements (we will help you with this), and therefore achieves maximum greenhouse gas emissions reductions.

Organisations eligible for an energy efficiency grant must:

  • Be registered with Companies House / Charities Commission or demonstrate that they are engaged in ‘economic activity’ – usually some form of trading. Unincorporated associations and sole traders are eligible, provided they can show evidence of this
  • Be a small to medium sized enterprise (SME) that employs fewer than 250 people
  • Annual turnover under €50M (£39M) or annual balance sheet under €43M (£33M)
  • Must not have received more than €200,000 (£156,000) of state aid in the last three years
  • Not be owned by a group or company that does not meet the above three criteria

You must be located in one of the following areas:

Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, North London Boroughs (Enfield, Barnet, Harrow and Hillingdon), Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Black Country (Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton), Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Telford, Wrekin, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Coventry, Warwickshire, Kent, East Sussex, Essex, West Sussex, Lincolnshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough, Brighton & Hove, Croydon, Leicestershire, Leeds and Oxfordshire.

Eligible projects include, for example:

  • Replacing halogen or fluorescent lighting with LEDs and optimising the number and position of light fittings to maximise use of natural lighting
  • Installing sensors to control lighting in communal areas dependent on natural light levels and movement of building occupants
  • Replacement of outdated heaters and heating systems with more efficient infrared heating systems controlled by modern programmable thermostats
  • Installation of new technologies such as energy storage or dry coolers
  • Installation of sub-metering and/or Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) to allow accurate measuring and recording of energy usage for different areas across a site
  • Building fabric improvements combining appropriate high quality materials with low-impact products, such as sheep wool insulation
  • Renewable energy installations where energy efficiency improvements have already been addressed (grant beneficiaries are able to claim Smart Export Guarantee (see footnote) which came into force on 1st January 2020)

Due to funding opportunities through sector-specific programmes certain sectors are ineligible for this funding, namely enterprises engaged primarily in the following sectors:

  • Banking
  • Coal
  • Fisheries and aquaculture
  • Insurance
  • Primary production, processing and marketing of agricultural products
  • Shipbuilding
  • Statutory services (e.g. education, healthcare)
  • Steel
  • Synthetic fibres

If you would like to apply for a grant for your infrared heating project please contact call us on 0800 2100288 or email and we will assist you.

Footnotes:

Smart Export Guarantee

  • The Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) is an obligation set by the government for licensed electricity suppliers to offer a tariff and make payment to small-scale low-carbon generators for electricity exported to the National Grid. The SEG came into force from 1st January 2020 and replaces the Feed-in Tariff (FiT).
  • A business who has installed solar PV panels up to a capacity of 5MW with the assistance of a Low Carbon Workspaces grant may apply for the SEG.
  • All generators with an eligible installation will need to apply to a SEG Licensee for payment for electricity exported to the National Grid; but this does not have to be the same company as your energy supplier. You can choose to use separate companies for your SEG export payments and your energy supplies.
  • The details of SEG payments, including the amount of money received and the length of the contract, will be determined by the supplier applied to. However, whilst wholesale electricity prices can sometimes fall below zero, SEG licensees must always offer a tariff that remains above zero. Generators are also entitled to payments based upon actual meter readings