Scottish Central Government Energy Efficiency Grant scheme: form and guidance

Overview

The Scottish Central Government Energy Efficiency Grant scheme will offer capital grant funding support to enable the delivery of heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency projects across the public sector. This funding is targeted towards Scottish central government organisations that have previously had limited access to borrowing funds for this type of work.

The fund will also provide resource support to build a pipeline of investment-ready projects in future years, further accelerating investment in renewable heat technologies and energy efficiency across the public sector.

Energy efficiency in the public sector has been identified as an area of critical priority for transforming our buildings and the systems that supply their heat to ensure all buildings in Scotland reach zero emissions by 2045. The fund will support public sector decarbonisation, encompassing a variety of pathways and green technologies that are vital in achieving zero emissions heating systems across Scotland’s buildings.

The first round of funding through the Scottish Central Government Energy Efficiency Grant scheme was announced in June 2021. Applications for 19 pre-capital support projects were successful, totalling over £750,000, and 23 applications for capital support were successful, totalling over £10 million of investment.

Open funding call 2022 to 2026

In May 2022, we announced an open invitation to eligible public bodies to apply for funding through the Scottish Central Government Energy Efficiency Grant scheme. The fund will remain open to applicants until 2025/2026.

This invitation calls upon eligible public bodies to deliver projects that can effectively contribute towards our ambitions for Scotland to achieve net zero emissions by 2045. Applications for single year and multi-year projects are welcomed.

As a minimum, the Scottish Central Government Energy Efficiency Grant scheme will invest capital funding support of £15 million in 2022/2023. Capital funding budget for 2023/2024 will be announced in early 2023.

Resource support for pre-capital projects was offered through the fund this 2022/2023. This was to enable the building of a pipeline of investment-ready heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency projects across the public sector. This funding has now been fully allocated for the current financial year. Future rounds of pre-capital funding will be announced in early 2023. 

This invitation is part of an overall fund totalling £200 million available over this parliamentary term through the Scottish Green Public Sector Estate Decarbonisation scheme.

Applicants will be able to apply for up to £2 million worth of capital funding per applicant each year. There is no minimum value for applications.

Applications for multi-year capital-funded projects are welcomed and will be considered on an individual, case-by-case basis.