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.

Challenge

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.

Solution

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.