Thinking Schools Academy Trust is a 24-school multi-academy trust encompassing primary and secondary schools across the South East and South West of England. The trust has a unique ethos which endorses that the best way to transform life chances is to actively shape the minds, attitudes and habits of young people through a framework of cognitive education.
Working with Zenergi has helped them focus more of their time and money towards delivering these high educational standards.
Zenergi has served as the trust’s outsourced energy department for more than 10 years
Zenergi is developing a full net zero strategy for the trust, which included accessing funding for heat decarbonisation.
Zenergi has served as the trust’s outsourced energy department for more than 10 years, overseeing their energy contracts, dealing with all queries and validating bills ahead of payment. Zenergi has worked closely with the senior management team and estates staff to help them understand usage trends and supported with advice around measures to reduce energy consumption. More recently, Zenergi has been engaged by Thinking Schools Academy Trust to help develop a full net zero strategy. This was driven by the introduction of government schemes aimed at providing financial support to public bodies to reduce their carbon footprint.
Zenergi supported the trust to apply for funding to develop heat decarbonisation plans (HDPs) under the Low Carbon Skills Fund (LCSF). The application was successful, and Thinking Schools Academy Trust was awarded £85,342 for the development of the heat decarbonisation plans by Zenergi’s technical team.
Heat decarbonisation plans are a fundamental building block in the transition away from fossil-fuelled heating systems. The plans will inform the trust’s preparation and roadmap for decarbonisation and energy efficiency works, including LED lighting; electric vehicle charging; and solar PV.
The work is vital for the successful preparation of future Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) applications, which offers funding towards the replacement of fossil-fuelled heating systems with decarbonised alternatives to public bodies with a robust heat decarbonisation plan in place.
The heat decarbonisation plan programme has helped us achieve a starting point to drive our sustainability policy and to understand opportunities to reduce consumption and costs as we look towards our net zero journey. The work has placed us in a much stronger position to bid for future grant funding rounds to support the installation of energy efficiency works. The output of the detailed surveys was to a very high standard and the team were extremely helpful throughout the process, providing excellent communication that ensured we achieved key Salix milestones.
James Fenlon
Head of Estates and Health and Safety
Thinking Schools Academy Trust
Glenmorangie sought a focused solution to improve energy efficiency and reduce costs. By working closely with the team at Zenergi, the strategic building optimisation resulted in a 59% reduction in electricity consumption and a 52% reduction in gas usage.
Danes Educational Trust selected Zenergi as its trusted carbon reduction partner, securing £166,000 in grant funding for heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency upgrades.
Leigh Academies Trust adopted Zenergi’s Zen Flex Bespoke product to take advantage of market movements by purchasing a volume of energy up front, while also trading on the day-ahead market to spread the risk of the volatile markets.
Zenergi’s services for PR Associates keep schools up to date with energy compliance, as well as driving energy efficiency to reduce costs and carbon emissions.
Zenergi supports Shropshire Council’s vision to stabilise and progressively reduce its environmental footprint., with the provision of Display Energy Certificates, which it has carried out for the Council for over 10 years.
Zenergi carried out the delivery of commercial Energy Performance Certificates for 52 properties in Reading to meet compliance with the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards.
School Business Professionals are increasingly challenged to balance shrinking budgets and escalating operating costs. However, energy is an area that offers opportunities to protect school budgets through a competitive tender process that proactively secures prices that take advantage of low wholesale market positions where possible.
We started working with Windmill Care when we successfully negotiated good tariffs for gas and electricity contracts for the group’s three care homes. But, before they went live, Windmill Care’s incumbent supplier identified a billing issue.
