Bolton SMEs are being urged to apply for an energy efficiency grant

The grant of up to £5,000 is being offered by Green Economy, which delivers business support programs on behalf of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

The programs will be funded by the UK’s Shared Prosperity Fund Leveling Up project to support the ambition to be a ‘net zero’ city region by 2038.

BOC Car Center in Bolton manages and leases a number of car showroom sites to independent car sales companies in the North West.

The company has received support from the sustainability and net zero team to identify opportunities to increase efficiency, reduce costs and reduce carbon emissions.

Following an on-site assessment, a consultant recommended an upgrade to the existing heating and lighting systems.

The company received a grant to replace the existing gas warm air blower with electric infrared heaters and the fluorescent lighting with LED lighting fixtures, reducing the company’s gas and electricity consumption, which equates to 65.2 tonnes of CO2e and a cost savings of £18,183 per unit were achieved. year.

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Manager of BOC Car Centre, Jawed Patel, said: “Receiving this grant was integral to delivering our energy savings project as we did not have the capital required as other business-critical expenditure took priority.

“The grant bridged the gap in our finances and brought the project to our attention. It was great to work with a local installer to deliver the project for us.”

The Energy Efficiency Grant is available to small and medium sized businesses based in Bolton and will cover 50 per cent of the cost of delivering projects worth up to £5,000.

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Technical Lead at Green Economy, Alasdair Dalzel-Job, said: “We have seen time and time again that the main barrier for businesses to reach net zero is access to cash flow and capital investment to deliver those ‘nice-to-do projects’ to the top of their career. do list.

“This grant offers businesses in Bolton a real opportunity to prioritize energy efficiency improvements by 2024.

“We have provided a number of grants to businesses over the years, awarding over £1 million since 2018. This has helped businesses save £2.3 million in overhead costs, with an annual CO2 saving of 5,773.63 tonnes of CO2.”

Eligible projects include heating equipment upgrades, replacement motors, process efficiency investments and lighting efficiency.

To qualify for the grant, projects must specify the magnitude of CO2e savings expected from the project.