Salix Finance Ltd receives additional £20 million for public sector loan scheme

13th December 2011

Applications from public sector organisations for energy efficient projects sought before end of March 2012

Salix Finance has announced that it has been awarded an additional £20 million by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) for its successful public sector energy efficiency loans programme.

The loans, available for efficiency projects in England across the public sector – from schools and universities to local authorities and NHS Trusts – before the end of March 2012, will save organisations money on energy bills and reduce carbon emissions.

Salix loans are provided for energy efficient projects that pay for themselves within five years through lower energy bills. Repayments are made from the money saved on energy bills and, once the loans are repaid, the organisation continues to benefit from the low carbon equipment and the saving it delivers.

Salix supports over 120 types of energy efficiency technology. To date, it has funded over 7500 projects which have an average payback from the energy savings of 3.5 years and an average expected lifetime of 13 years.

The £20million funding is for allocation to projects by the end of March 2012, and will be paid by Salix to successfully completed schemes before the end of December 2012. The funding will be allocated on a first come first served basis and so projects submitted early will benefit.

Alastair Keir, CEO of Salix Finance Ltd said:

“We are really pleased to be awarded this new funding. It will enable us to continue to provide much needed assistance to the public sector, helping it reduce its carbon emissions and energy bills. Demand from the public sector for energy efficiency improvements is enormous. This interest free loan fund removes the barrier of having to find capital to pay for the energy efficiency measures at a time of tight budgets. We look forward to receiving applications from organisations across the public sector.”

Examples of successful projects, funded by Salix Finance’s loan scheme (SEELS):

• Staffordshire University has carried out 17 projects - including insulation projects, network power management, low loss transformer including voltage management and lighting projects, valued at - £722,592 in total. The annual energy bill savings from these are £236,611 per year with expected lifetime savings of £3,928,288. These projects will save 1600 tonnes of CO2 annually.

• Durham County Council has implemented a number of street lighting projects to the value of £1.12m across the council area. These will realise lifetime savings of £6.8m and reduce CO2 emissions by 42,400 tonnes over their lifetime.

• The installation of a condensing flu gas economiser, which improves boiler heat recovery, at a cost of £300,000 will save King’s College Hospital over £2million and reduce CO2 emissions by 18,000 tonnes over its lifetime. This technology pays back its costs within 18 months.

More information about the SEELS programme, and details on how to apply, can be found on the Salix Finance website: www.salixfinance.co.uk