Salix Launches Pilot Schools Project in partnership with DECC

Salix has announced the launch of its schools research pilot project, Salix Schools: Switching to Low Energy.

This pilot project is taking place in partnership with both the Department of Education and the Department for Energy and Climate Change.

The schools selected to take part in the pilot will receive a comprehensive energy and carbon reduction survey, conducted by a third party agency. This survey will identify what measures they school can implement in order to reduce their energy bills as much as possible and move them as close as possible towards being best practice in energy efficiency.

The purpose of this project will be to research and review the potential for how different funding models can be utilised to enable schools to reach best practice with regards to their energy efficiency.  These different funding options, including Salix funding, will then be reviewed when the school is ready to implement the measures identified in the school site survey.

All state-maintained schools across England are eligible to express their interest in this pilot project, however only a limited number of these schools will be selected.  In order to qualify for the pilot scheme, schools will need to have full consent of their governors and keep their local authority involved in the project. Your school must also be set up to process direct debits in the event of applying to Salix for an interest-free loan to cover the cost of the survey and specified measures.

Survey costs will range from £2,500 to £5,000 (ex VAT) dependent upon the size of the school. The end report will include detailed recommendations for energy improvements, with a specific outline for each of the measures enabling projects to be directly procured from clear forms for quotation produced from the survey detail.

Potential Recommendations of the site survey may include:

·         ‘No cost’ behavioural issues (including control adjustments)

·         Energy Efficiency Compliant projects that can be funded by Salix (i.e. less than 8 year payback and £200/tCO₂)

·         Longer payback & Solar Renewable projects that are not Salix compliant, but which could potentially be supported through alternative funding.  Options will be explored with the school, local authority and DfE.  (It should be noted that it may also be possible to obtain partial Salix funding for some of the longer payback measures).