A new phase of funding has been announced under the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS).
There will be a total of up to £635m of funding available to public sector organisations, with a proportion being ringfenced for the education and healthcare sectors.
The funding, managed by Salix, will focus on the decarbonisation of heat and will be for projects commencing and completing in the financial years 2023/24 and 2024/25. Eligible projects will include technologies such as air source, water source and ground source heat pumps and applications must include a project that decarbonises part or all of the heating within a building. It is possible to bundle complementary technologies with the heating replacement scheme where it supports the delivery of the core scheme, as part of a “whole building” approach. Both single year and multi-year projects can be applied for, so long as the completion date is prior to 31 March 2025.
As with the previous PSDS Phase 3 scheme, announced in September 2021, priority will be given to fund decarbonisation projects where the heating systems are approaching the end of their working lives and there is need for replacement/upgrade. To be eligible for funding under the scheme, the existing system must be fossil fuel based, with the replacement system to use low/zero carbon technology.
The applicant will need to contribute funds to the equivalent value of a traditional fossil fuelled solution.
The new application portal will open in September 2022 – with the exact date yet to be announced. We will update this article once further information has been released.
Previous phases of the scheme have been hugely oversubscribed, with applications closing early due to demand. Organisations that wish to submit bids are advised to be prepared to submit bids as soon as possible.
Lea Hough has a strong track record of assisting in the application of funding under the PSDS; particularly in respect of the education sector. We have helped a number of academy schools and multi-academy trusts to successfully obtain tens of thousands of pounds of funding in previous phases of the PSDS.
To discuss applying for funding for Phase 3b of the Public Sector Low Carbon Skills Fund, please contact us.
