Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield are set to receive a share of £12 million to help them push the Green Deal across their respective regions.
The announced cities were selected because the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) believes that the funding will help support their ambitious Green Deal plans to lower total carbon emissions.
Energy Secretary Edward Davey said: “These cities have really ambitious plans to lower their emissions, reduce energy use and help people save money on their bills. I’ve been really impressed by their plans to start testing the Green Deal and transforming our homes and buildings.
“This funding will help them get up and running, and I look forward to seeing a number of properties across whole communities get the energy efficient improvements they need.”
The department hopes that the new funding will allow the selected cities to serve as important testbeds, providing early feedback on the Green Deal framework ahead of its launch in October. DECC expects the cities to undertake around 2,500 retrofits. Each of the seven cities has also committed to matching the level of funding themselves.
Solar companies looking to get involved in the Green Deal when it launches in October can find out more about the Coalition’s flagship green policy by attending this year’s Solar Power UK series of seminars. The Green Solutions hall will see talks from key stakeholders involved in delivering the structure of the new scheme define suppliers’ roles, the Green Deal’s planned delivery method and how you can take advantage of the opening up of a new market sector.
MCS-accredited readers of Solar Power Portal can register to attend any of the seminar series for free, by entering the following code when registering online: SPPMCSF3