Salix Finance, the government body responsible for administering the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) has announced that Phase 3 of what has been, to date, a popular and significantly oversubscribed scheme, is set to open on Wednesday 6 October 2021.

Salix is unable to confirm the amount of funding that will be made available at this stage, but we understand that the application window is set to remain open for four weeks.

As with previous rounds, the focus is on decarbonising heating and removing fossil fuels from the process of heating public buildings where existing plant has reached end-of-life. The scheme remains broadly similar to phase 2, whereby applicants can apply for funding to pay for the additional “marginal” cost of replacing end-of-life fossil fuelled heating systems with a decarbonised alternative, along with any supporting technologies that help to reduce the running costs and make the project feasible.

We note that the application form for this new round is significantly more detailed than previous rounds, requiring complex technical calculations that can only be derived through prior site surveys by engineers, or detailed heat decarbonisation plans.

We are currently reviewing applications from phase 1 and phase 2 against the application criteria to support bids for funding in round 3.

Meanwhile, we would urge any organisation who wants to improve energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions and lower energy bills to talk to us about the best approach, considering options such as energy audits and heat decarbonisation plans.