GRANT INFORMATION FOR RENEWABLE TECHNOLOGIES
What follows is some information on grants that are available for renewable energy technology.

PLEASE NOTE: that whilst I endeavour to keep this section right up to date by the very nature of Grant Information it is nearly always out of date as soon as it is published.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you do not take any of this verbatim but check the relevant websites for up to date information.

NEWSFLASH: great news for everyone expecting news on the existing Phase 1 ( housing ) and Phase 2 ( public buildings / community housing / charities etc ) the Government have just extended deadlines for a year and put another £45m in the pot for renewable energy installations. The same basic rules of application apply and those with applications already registered may now be included PLUS the monies can be accessed by any company with MCS approval ( previously only 3 big companies could access these funds ). New World Solar who I work with ( see the link to them in the menu to the left on this page ) are one of the ONLY companies in the UK to be MCS accredited for Solar Thermal / Solar PV / Heat Pumps and should be your first port of call if you are looking for a high quality installer.
 
New Money for the Low Carbon Buildings Programme
New opportunities for householders, communities and the public sector to install the range of small scale on-site energy technologies and play their part in tackling climate change.

BERR Low Carbon Buildings Programme: Phase 1 ( Householders )
LCBP Phase One will receive an additional £10 million of funding. This sees the current programme extended from July 2010 to April 2011.

The new funding will continue to support household applications and technologies offered under the current scheme. We encourage householders to continue applying under the current arrangements.
Also see for more details on LCBP Phase 1.

At present grants exist for a number of renewable energy solutions. The application is very easy ( 10 minutes on the website assuming you have a quote from an installer who is in the list of approved installers for BERR and the model / make / outputs of the product you are installing. I got an approved email back within 2 minutes and subject to them checking that I had paid for my installation the money was forthcoming 2-weeks after that. I got £2,500 for Solar PV and the most recent information is that these grants WILL be available until June 2010 ( although Phase 2 seems to have run out before its deadline so an early application is advisable ). 

You can find out more from their website: http://www.lowcarbonbuildings.org.uk/how/householders/  

Household grants have been and will continue to be allocated on a first come first served basis as long as funds last. There will be no further funds and no further measures to extend the scheme life. £2,500 maximum limit on grants per household.

Technology	Maximum Amount of Grant
Solar photovoltaics	Maximum of £2,000 per kW of installed capacity, subject to an overall maximum of £2,500 or 50% of the relevant eligible costs, whichever is the lower
Wind turbines	Maximum of £1,000 per kW of installed capacity, subject to an overall maximum of £2,500 or 30% of the relevant eligible costs, whichever is the lower
Small hydro	Maximum of £1,000 per kW of installed capacity, subject to an overall maximum of £2,500 or 30% of the relevant eligible costs, whichever is the lower
Solar thermal hot water	Overall maximum of £400 or 30% of the relevant eligible costs, whichever is the lower
Ground source heat pumps	Overall maximum of £1,200 or 30% of the relevant eligible costs, whichever is the lower
Air source heat pumps	Overall maximum of £900 or 30% of the relevant eligible costs, whichever is the lower
Automated wood pellet fed room heaters/stoves	Overall maximum of £600 or 20% of the relevant eligible costs, whichever is the lower
Wood fuelled boiler systems	Overall maximum of £1,500 or 30% of the relevant eligible costs, whichever is the lower

      
There is a £2,500 grant cap per household. Householders can apply for more than one technology but the funding will be limited up to a maximum of £2,500 per household depending on technologies involved.
Shorter grant offer periods

Grant offer periods are as follows: 
 Solar thermal grant applications will be given 3 months to complete installations.
 Wind and solar PV will applications be given 4 months to complete installations.
 Ground Source Heat Pump, Air Source Heat Pumps and  Biomass will be given 6 months. 
 Hydro will be given 12 months
 Technologies being installed on buildings under construction will have a grant offer validity of 6 months (except hydro which has a 12 month grant offer period)

BERR Low Carbon Buildings Programme: Phase 2 ( Public Buildings ).
Following the Budget announcement on 22 April an additional £45 million has been allocated to the Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP). LCBP Phase Two will receive an additional £35 million of funding. This sees the current programme extend from 1 July 2009 until April 2011 in order to support technologies until the introduction of Feed-in Tariffs and the Renewable Heat Incentive.

£5 million of the £45 million has already been allocated to solar PV funding under Phase Two to deal with the majority of PV applications in the pipeline.

From 1 July 2009:
 The programme will be open to all products and installer companies registered on the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS). In terms of the product scheme, this includes Solar Keymark for solar thermal technology, and those approved under Clear Skies (until December 2009). A full list of these can be found at www.microgenerationcertification.org
 The extended programme will continue to provide grant funding to charitable organisations, community groups and the public sector.
 The upper limit for heat technologies will be raised to 300kW.
 Organisations may apply for up to 50% of the cost of installing approved technologies up to a maximum of £200,000 (though maximum grant levels may depend on the nature of the organisation).

The change-over:
 We will be working to ensure a seamless change to the new arrangements at the beginning of July.
 We will work with applicants to submit their applications.
 Detailed information on transitional arrangements will be provided shortly.

Grants for the installation of microgeneration technologies are available to public sector buildings (including schools, hospitals, housing associations and local authorities) and charitable bodies.

Organisations can apply for 50% of the cost of installing approved microgeneration technologies, supplied and installed by Framework Suppliers.

Organisations can apply for a maximum of up to £1.0 million in grant funds per site. A site may include more than one property and a maximum of three eligible technologies may be grant-assisted at each property. Multiple applications from one organisation for different sites will be accepted.

Grants of up to 50% of total project costs are available for the supply and installation of any combination of the following technologies:
 Solar photovoltaics [ pot was £26.5m but is now fully committed ]
 Solar thermal hot water [ pot was £7m but is fast running out ]
 Wind turbines [ pot was £5m and some still available ]
 Ground source heat pumps [ pot was £7.5m and some still available ]
 Automated wood pellet stoves [ total pot for Biomass is £2m some still available ]
 Wood fuelled boiler systems

You can find out if you qualify at: http://www.lowcarbonbuildingsphase2.org.uk/