Centrica supports community innovation with Energy for Tomorrow fund

UK utility Centrica has issued £400,000 ($539,914) in funding to community projects aimed at improving the use of digital technologies for energy reliability and renewables for sustainability.

Some four community projects will receive £100,000 ($124,938) each as part of the utility’s Energy for Tomorrow social impact fund that is aimed at delivering affordable, accessible and sustainable energy solutions.

The aim is to help communities tackle climate change and at the same time improve customer services.

The four projects include:

Eigg Trading Limited’s 2-year project will enable the redevelopment of the Isle of Eigg’s gateway community hub. As a result, the island will be made more sustainable and be net zero by 2030.

The project will include the installation of a biomass boiler and solar thermal panels, replacement of an oil heating source and saving over 4,000 litres of oil each year.

Have you read?
EU invests €1.1 billion in projects to support decarbonisation
ELES pilots Advanced Energy Management System with Japan’s NEDO and Hitachi

Community Energy Scotland will use the fund to implement the ‘Making Heat Pumps Work’ project.

As part of the initiative, rural homes in the Orkney Islands will be assessed to determine the best eco-solutions that can be adopted to decarbonise heating and improve energy efficiency. Centrica will fund Eigg Trading’s initiative over a period of 2 years.

Brag Enterprises, a charity in Fife that provides employability skills, advice to small businesses, and a food pantry service to help families in poverty, will use Centrica’s aid to make their facilities energy-efficient. The charity will deploy technology that can help to monitor energy usage and costs as well as enable community members to reduce and change energy behaviours.

Energy Sparks developed a tool that helps schools to reduce their carbon footprint and improve energy efficiency by 10%. The firm will leverage funding from Centrica to develop and improve the platform and support the free provision of Energy Sparks to a further 65 state schools across Scotland.

Chris O’Shea, Group Chief Executive at Centrica, said: “Tackling climate change is a job that requires everyone to work together, with each of us doing our bit to bring solutions both big and small to the table. The Energy for Tomorrow funding that has been awarded to four projects in Scotland will help organisations that are working at the heart of communities to scale up their ideas and initiatives to make a real difference in peoples lives so that we can continue to push for a sustainable future for all.”