Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund – Third Call for Projects Launched

Support is available for Scotland’s most energy-intensive industrial sectors to overcome the challenges associated with investing in energy efficiency or decarbonisation measures.

The Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (SIETF) is expected to help industry improve energy efficiency. The Fund will support businesses with high energy use to:

  • Cut their bills and emissions through increased energy efficiency.
  • Reduce emissions by bringing down the costs and risks associated with investing in decarbonisation technologies.

A total of £34 million of capital funding will be allocated via several calls (of which this is the third), with funding profiled from 2021 to 2026. Up to £26 million has been made available for projects that could be awarded capex funding from this call (for deployment to March 2026).

The SIETF currently consists of two competitions:

  • Competition 1 – deployment 

    To support the deployment of readily available energy efficiency technologies that improve process energy efficiency and reduce energy demand (specific or absolute reduction) and/or to support decarbonisation of industrial processes, for example through fuel switching.

  • Competition 2 – studies (feasibility and FEED) 

    To support feasibility and  front-end engineering and design studies (FEED) into energy efficiency or deeper decarbonisation such as through fuel switching.

Scottish businesses can apply for match funded grants to invest in energy efficiency and low-carbon technologies. Applicants requesting a deployment grant that exceeds £2 million, or a study grant that exceeds £100,000 must inform the Scottish Government before submitting an application.

Applications are accepted from Scottish businesses in industries where energy usage makes up a significant part of production costs. The lead applicant must carry out an eligible industrial process. The business should fall into the following categories: manufacturing, data centres, mining and quarrying, recovery and recycling of materials.

The deadline for applications is 18 November 2022.

(This report was the subject of a GRANTfinder Newsflash.)