The funding will see the construction of a 6.5MW capacity combined heat and power (CHP) facility in the Holbrook area of Sheffield, with the potential to heat more than 6,700 local properties.

The scheme received £14.6m from the fund Energy Savings Investments, in which GIB is an investor, and £15m private capital from the Equitix Energy Efficiency Fund.

The new biomass plant is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 12,700 tonnes of CO2 per year.

GIB head of investment banking Ed Northam said the project showed typified the GIB’s role in “helping developers utilise innovative technology to create new source of green power”.

Local project

Stephen Brooks, director of the project’s developer UYE, said it had taken five years to get the community-scale energy project funded. “We see that these local, community-scale energy generation projects are one of the ways to reduce carbon emissions, reduce grid losses and generate useable, sustainable and affordable heat for local communities,” said Brooks.

“Many people told us that we would never be able to compete with the large energy generation companies, but thanks to the help, support and innovative thinking of the GIB and Equitix we have been able to fund this project and bring it through to construction.”

Last month, the Government confirmed it was selling its majority stake in GIB at the bank’s annual review meeting. The Government was expected to sell as much as 70% of its stake in a bid to raise £1bn.

GIB has now committed more than £2bn to more than 50 green projects across the UK. The bank made its landmark 50th investment in green projects last month, three years after it was launched in 2012. 

Matt Field

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