South East New Energy Grants

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Helping businesses to become more energy efficient to cut costs and carbon

Please note: the SENE Grant Scheme is now closed and all available funding has been allocated.

The South East New Energy project aims to build a stronger Local Energy and Low Carbon Economy in the South East of England. It aims to achieve this by providing support to a range of individuals and organisations, and by understanding and addressing the barriers to the decarbonisation of communities, buildings, transport, and lives.

PECT’s role is to provide grants to eligible small and medium-sized businesses, to help catalyse capital investments in energy efficiency initiatives. The long-term organisational benefits to participating businesses include reduced operating costs, increased competitiveness, reduced carbon footprint, business growth and resilience.

The project is part-funded by the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The South East New Energy project is led by the University of East London, with a wider partnership of delivery organisations.

To find out more please contact the team at [email protected].

What support is available?

The project is offering capital grants to help qualifying businesses improve energy efficiency and/or reduce carbon emissions. Support is available until May 2023 (subject to grant availability), but larger value projects (£25,000 or more) will need to start the application process no later than March 2023.

– Minimum grant is £1,000
– The minimum project value is £4,000
– The intervention rate will be up to 25% – exact value of the grant awarded will be based on the cost (£) per tonne of carbon saved.

Eligibility – who can we help?

The project is offering assistance to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Kent, East Sussex, Essex, Thurrock and Southend. A detailed list of the Local Authority areas covered by South East New Energy is available upon request.

There are eligibility criteria that your business will need to meet and the project is unable to support businesses from certain sectors including (but not limited to); fisheries or aquaculture, agriculture or the processing of agricultural products, synthetic fibres, banking and insurance, healthcare, and school age education.

Eligibility – what can we fund?

Unfortunately, we are no longer able to support grant applications for solar PV installations.

SENE grants are only available to support capital projects to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions and projects must meet a minimum value for money threshold which measures the estimated carbon saving against the amount of grant funding being requested.

This means that not all projects will be eligible for funding support.

Examples of projects we will typically support, subject to sufficient energy savings, include LED lighting, infrared heating, variable speed drives and voltage optimisation systems.

If you would like to discuss support for a project that is not on this list, please contact us for more information at [email protected].

There are a number of technologies that the SENE grant scheme does not fund including gas fuelled heating projects, building fabric work, such as insulation or windows, and air conditioning systems.

SENE does not fund the purchase of electric vehicles or charging points. However, you can find information about the Workplace Charging Scheme here Workplace Charging Scheme: guidance for applicants – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Potential applicants should always check their chosen technology is eligible for support before they start the application process.

To apply for a grant please contact the team at [email protected].

Opportunities for low carbon suppliers and installers

If you are a supplier or installer of low carbon technologies within the region and would like to be kept up to date with the SENE Grant Scheme, please email [email protected]

The SENE Grant Scheme team will then add you to our contact database, invite you to an introductory briefing session about the Grant Scheme.

current tender opportunities

The South East New Energy Programme aims to build a stronger Local Energy and Low Carbon Economy in Essex, Kent and East Sussex. As part of this ambition, the programme will provide grants to eligible small and medium-sized businesses, to help catalyse capital investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives.

Prior to grant funding being approved, applicants with a project of £25,000 or more must complete an open tender process to select their preferred supplier.

The table below provides links to tender opportunities currently being run by applicants to the SENE Grant Scheme.

Technology	Location	Organisation	Closing Date	Expressions of Interest By	Link to Tender Advert

*This information is provided for your reference, PECT, the University of East London and other SENE Delivery Partners are in no way involved with the tender process and you should direct all communications directly to the organisation concerned.

CASE STudies

Activity World (Peterborough) Ltd

“We are always looking for ways to be more sustainable as a business and we felt now was the right time to make a significant investment in the solar panels. The SENE grant made a real…”