The LEP Energy Strategy reviews current policies and considers the possibilities and funding available for the transition to a low carbon economy.
In 2022, the Marches LEP allocated £4million of funding to support projects that could meet the priorities set out in the Marches Energy Strategy. This represented a significant investment in energy projects by the LEP and arose in response to a recognition of the need to invest in energy efficiency and generation to help support businesses across the region.
The initial call for potential projects by the LEP received 28 Expressions of Interest, and totalled over £50Million of projects. As the Fund was significantly over-subscribed, the Fund was only able to support 3 proposals, which the LEP felt would help to tackle many of the energy difficulties encountered by businesses in the region:
National Grid Electricity Distribution will be installing monitoring equipment into 200 Low Voltage substations within the Marches LEP area to help improve the available data and understand capacity constraints within the region in order to help identify opportunities for providing demand side measures.
Herefordshire, Ludlow & North Shropshire College are creating an MCS accredited training centre for low carbon and renewable technology installations at their Holme Lacy Campus. The Centre will be amongst the first nationally to offer the new apprenticeship standard in Low Carbon Heating Technician, and will provide training to the construction industry; developing the skills required to install low-carbon technologies, including retrofit.
Herefordshire Low Carbon Technology Centre
Building on the successes of previous programmes such as the Marches Renewable Energy (MarRE) fund and the Business Energy Efficiency Project (BEEP) grant scheme, the Marches Energy Grant (MEG) will offer free advice, energy assessments and grants for energy efficiency and renewable energy measures to SMEs from all sectors in Herefordshire, Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin. The funding will also be available to support community buildings. As well as the grant funding, the project will also run related networking and webinar events for SMEs and other organisations.