Associate Feature: Salix Finance offers support to public sector push for sustainable energy

Funded by the Scottish Government, Salix Finance has been supporting the Scottish public sector since 2006, helping institutions reduce their carbon emissions by funding major infrastructure upgrades.

To this date, £70 million worth of energy efficiency projects have been completed, which Salix is expecting will save the public sector more than £193 million over the lifetime of the projects. Loans are awarded to institutions subject to the Public Bodies Duties in the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.  

Successful projects include independent charity Glasgow Life which manages leisure facilities on behalf of Glasgow City Council, which used £1.5 million of funding to deliver energy efficiency projects throughout the city, including £931,021 worth of LED lighting upgrades in facilities such as sports halls, libraries, community centres and museums – including replacing Glasgow Green football centre’s three pitches’ floodlights with LEDs.  

Christopher Masters, Programme Coordinator for Salix’s Scotland team is looking forward to future projects getting underway as 2022 begins, “It’s an exciting time for Scotland, hosting COP26 has inspired a renewed enthusiasm for energy projects across the country. We are extremely proud of the public sector’s achievements in Scotland, saving an estimated 48,000 tonnes of carbon each year with technology delivered by Salix and the Scottish Government is incredible”

He noted the applications Salix were receiving contained a range of plans, “We’re seeing councils adopt a multitude of technologies from solar panels to heat pumps to hydro-electric turbines as part of their climate action plans. The public sector is making great strides and we are here to support their journey to net zero by 2045.” 

Other infrastructure upgrades include LED lighting at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall completed in 2019 which was valued at £104,000 and will save an estimated 1,427 tonnes of carbon over its lifetime. The Concert Hall is now having new air handling units being installed which will be completed by the end of 2021 and are due to save 1,508 tonnes of carbon. 

Salix also supported East Renfrewshire Council in 2017, who used £362,100 of their Salix recycling fund for refurbishments such as replacing inefficient electrical storage heaters with air source heat pumps, upgraded to LEDs and installed a new Building Energy Management System (BEMS) to manage heat distribution across eight of their school. This project is saving 200 tonnes of carbon and £48,198 annually. 

As part of the Scottish Green Public Sector Estate Decarbonisation Scheme, Salix continues to support the public sector by delivering the Scottish Public Sector Energy Efficiency Loan Scheme which offers interest-free funding to institutions to help them work towards their ambitious net zero targets. With £70 million invested in 780 projects in 2020/21, Salix’s support funding has enabled the Scottish public sector to save £11 million this year. 

Universities Financial Transactions Programme (UFTP)  

Salix will be supporting the Scottish Funding Councils University Financial Transactions Programme 2021-22 (UFTP). The programme will provide low-interest loans totalling up to £32.8 million to support university capital investments made in response to the climate emergency. All funding awarded is to be directed towards climate emergency projects. The programme aims to significantly reduce the Scottish university sector’s carbon footprint and Salix are looking for proposals that showcase innovation and sustainability.   

Salix is available to support with the development of projects and will be contacting each institution directly to discuss potential opportunities to apply for funding. The application form will be released in November with guidance on how to apply.

In the meantime, you can check out www.salixfinance.co.uk for more information or to speak to a member of the Scotland team please email scotland@salixfinance.co.uk

This article was sponsored by Salix Finance