Public sector urged to beat green grant deadline

The government today issued a warning to charities and public sector organisations such as schools and hospitals that "time is running out" for them to access up to £24m in green grants intended to support the installation of onsite renewable energy equipment.

The grants are available under the government's Low Carbon Building Programme, which offers charities, public sector bodies and homeowners the chance to apply for grants that help towards covering the cost of small-scale energy-generating equipment, such as wind turbines, solar panels and biomass boilers.

However, while the availability of grants to homeowners has been extended until June 2010, support for public sector bodies and charities is to end this June, leaving interested parties with just a few months to apply.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said there was still £24m in grants waiting to be dished out to successful applicants. "That is why we are telling public sector bodies and charities to come and get the money," she added.

She said that while the Low Carbon Building Programme was being phased out, the government was committed to pushing ahead with plans for a feed-in tariff (FIT), which would aim to better motivate organisations to invest in microgeneration technologies by providing an above-market price for any energy sold back to the grid.

The DECC is preparing a consultation on how to introduce a feed-in tarrif, but the spokeswoman for the department insisted that it was fully committed to implementing one.

"FIT will play a big part in getting people interested in microgeneration, along with new incentives for renewable heat," she said.