UK Government offers £20m in funding for energy efficiency measures

Reducing the amount of electricity through being more efficient, for example through the installation of more efficient fan motors, can help lower energy bills for consumers, reduce costs for businesses and bring down emissions.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change is running a pilot scheme to look at whether electricity demand reduction (EDR) could partake in the Capacity Market in Great Britain and also to discover broader lessons about the delivery and design of EDR schemes.

Businesses and other organisations that install measures delivering verifiable reductions in electricity demand will be able to bid for a financial incentive under the pilot scheme. More efficient motors, air conditioning and lighting and the installation of more efficient fan motors are examples of the kinds of measures that could receive support.

An auction will be organised where UK organisations can bid using the electricity savings they can provide and the price they are prepared to accept to deliver the savings. The EDR pilot is expected to open for bids in summer 2014 and to run for around two years. It is expected to be open to a wide range of efficiency measures that are able to demonstrate reductions in electricity demand.

'We’re looking for brilliant organisations with bright ideas about how to lower our electricity use, help cut energy bills and bring down our emissions,' said Edward Davey, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.

The pilot will be will be launched in June 2014 and will be backed with at least £20m of funding. A minimum of 100kW electricity savings is required, but this can be aggregated from several energy efficiency projects.

HVAC is a significant energy user on most commercial and industrial buildings, and EECO2 can help identify, implement and verify energy reduction projects to meet the funding criteria.