The Scottish government has announced £11 million in grants across seven projects which aim to provide clean heating and energy efficiency improvements in the public sector.
The University of Edinburgh, Fife Council and North Lanarkshire Council are among the first seven projects to share these grants, the funding for which is sourced from the £20 million Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund.
This marks the first time direct grant awards have been made to public sector bodies instead of loans for low-carbon energy improvements.
Decarbonising Scotland’s buildings
The funding is part of £200 million already committed to the public sector for energy efficiency and renewable heating over the next five years – part of the wider plan to spend £1.8 billion during the current parliamentary session on decarbonising Scotland’s buildings.
Of the recipients, Dumfries and Galloway Council received the largest portion, with £2,500,000 going towards Dumfries Ice Bowl. The funding will help replace the mains gas system with a low-emission water source heat pump with heat recapture technology to allow heat generated from the refrigeration system to be recovered.
Following closely is Fife Council, which received £2,404,911 for St Andrew’s RC High School and Beacon Leisure Centre. The primary heat sources for both were installed using a combination of air-to-water heat pumps and water-source heat pumps.
North Lanarkshire Council was awarded £2,345,176 for Strathclyde Park Watersports Centre. These updates include a whole-building retrofit, redesign, and extension as part of the transformation into a Net Zero Health Hub.
The University of Edinburgh has received £2,079,459 to support the reduction of heat demand at its King’s Buildings campus, home to the College of Science and Engineering, including through fabric insulation and pipework insulation upgrades.
A £1,241,966 award went to Edinburgh Napier University for its BE-ST A Lab. The retrofit includes removing the gas-based fossil fuel heating system and adding a solar PV integrated roof system and a sustainable LED-ready lighting control system.
Scotland’s Rural College received £387,130 for retrofitting insulation at its Barony Campus in Dumfries, including on the grade II listed Kirkmichael House.
Finally, Perth & Kinross Council was awarded £324,546 for Auchtergaven Primary School in Bankfoot to upgrade the existing heating supply via the installation of two air source heat pumps.
Zero-carbon buildings minister Patrick Harvie said, “Heat from our homes and buildings is responsible for around a fifth of Scotland’s overall emissions, so there is no route to delivering Net Zero by 2045 without tackling this. Not just our homes but also our schools, universities, offices, hospitals, and libraries need to improve their energy efficiency and make the move to clean heating.
“We are absolutely committed to addressing Scotland’s reliance on direct-emission heating systems that produce greenhouse gas emissions when we use them, which is why we have consulted on ambitious proposals for a Heat in Buildings Bill that we intend to bring forward during the current Parliament.”
Political backdrop
This funding has been announced during a time of particular political turmoil in Scotland, which was triggered by the dissolution of the government’s Bute House Agreement.
Last week, former first minister Humza Yousaf confirmed that the Scottish Government’s formal clean energy cooperation agreement with the Scottish Green Party has ended.
Following a meeting of the Scottish Cabinet, the first minister formally informed them of the end of the Bute House Agreement and their tenure as ministers, with immediate effect.
This triggered a “no confidence” vote in Yousaf from the Scottish Green Party, which ultimately led to his resignation from the role earlier today (April 29).
This decision closely followed Scottish net zero minister Mairi McAllan’s announcement the week prior that ministers will not reach their 2030 emissions target.
McAllan told the Scottish Parliament that the flagship target of a 75% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 is out of reach and will be scrapped. It will be replaced with a system measuring emissions every five years.
Despite accepting that the 2030 target is out of reach, McAllan insisted that the target to meet net zero by 2045 will “steadfastly” remain.
