What needs to be done

To decarbonise a school estate the following tasks must be completed for each school site:

1. Planning. Develop what is known as a Heat Decarbonisation Plan (HDP) for each school. The HDP identifies, explains and plans in detail:

a. The energy efficiency works required.
b. The heating plant conversion works required, including design concept.
c. The required implementation programme, costs (capex / opex), business case, grant funding, and any other resourcing for conversion of each school site.

2. Capital Works. Complete all the capital works enshrined in the relevant school HDP.

Grant funding

Annual public sector grant funding is available to cover most of this work: it would not be affordable without it. ReEnergise provides technical and  commercial support to clients applying for these grants. We do so free of charge, on the understanding that if the application is successful then we will be awarded the work.

The grant funding is controlled by Salix Finance on behalf of DESNZ. The Low Carbon Skills Fund (LCSF) is available to pay for the development of HDPs. The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) pays for the bulk of the resulting capital works. The LCSF runs each spring and the PSDS in the autumn: the thinking is that applicants can sequence their grants for the planning and implementation programme within the same year, if needs be.

In practice this is challenging: both grant schemes are allocated competitively across the public sector throughout England, and historically they have been heavily over-subscribed. For the LCSF, correctly completed applications are drawn at random by Salix: so there is little that can be done to increase an applicant’s chances, except to ensure that the application form has been completed correctly. However, for the PSDS, applications are graded according to the ratio of carbon emissions saved compared to the cost of the capital works (known as grant carbon cost). Once graded, applications are then prioritised in 3 tiers and then drawn at random within each tier: but the top tier (lowest grant carbon cost) gets the priority. This is a sensible way for DESNZ to ensure value for money, as it favours those projects that will achieve the most carbon reduction in relative terms.

ReEnergise success with grant funding

ReEnergise has been exceptionally successful with the PSDS. We have supported clients across every round of PSDS funding and maintained a 100% success rate with education sector applications to date, including applications for 6 grants totalling over £4M this time around. This is no accident. It reflects our careful scrutiny of the mechanics of the PSDS, a strong focus on grant carbon cost when developing decarbonisation plans and grant applications, and our care and attention in guiding our clients through this nuanced process.

These days it all starts with an Estate Decarbonisation Plan (EDP). So what work does this entail?

Through the EDP development process, ReEnergise investigates the means for a client school to fully decarbonise its estate heat, power and transport, using the existing situation as a base case for comparison.

Heat is the main driver, as it creates most of the typical school estate’s carbon emissions and its decarbonisation is entirely within the gift of, and totally dependent upon, the school’s actions. Heat decarbonisation is also the most difficult, disruptive and expensive aspect of estate decarbonisation, so must be given due priority in planning.

Transport creates much fewer direct emissions and the route to decarbonisation is almost inevitably electrification.

Before a plan for the future of estate power can be developed it is necessary to understand not only existing demand and options for efficiencies, but also the additional demand created by the plans for future heat and transport decarbonisation.

National Grid has a Government target to decarbonise the UK power grid by 2035, therefore once the provision of power to the school estate matches the future demand, no further power decarbonisation work will be necessary if decarbonisation is the only goal, even if the supply is still entirely from the grid.

However, independent power generation or storage on a school estate could still provide a financial advantage, as well as enhancing security of supply, and is therefore also considered as part of the EDP study.

To be most effective and efficient, heat, power and transport should be treated as one integrated system. This is a complex development process that can only be achieved by tackling it using the methodology described above.

Pulling all this together, the EDP will set out a multi-year plan to implement this integrated system. The EDP can be amended and adjusted as progress, circumstances and technological developments dictate, but will ensure that any actions taken are aligned with the overall objective.

This degree of planning for the future has become a key and necessary undertaking for any school wishing to become net-zero sooner or later.

In recent months and years ReEnergise has been engaged to develop decarbonisation plans, or higher level strategies, for a wide range of schools and colleges. The list below shows those already submitted to client schools, or under development:

The pipeline for new orders remains strong.