Energy Efficiency
Announcements prior to September 2017, including this announcement, occurred under previous ownership.
03 April 2014
The UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) has today announced its fourth investment in the NHS. GIB will be providing £1.1m to finance the £3.1m energy efficiency project with Cheltenham General Hospital, managed by Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust).
This has mobilised an additional £1.1m of private sector investment, from the Aviva Investors REaLM Infrastructure Fund. The project will also receive a £900,000 grant from the Department of Health.
The investment is being made by the Aviva Investors REaLM Energy Centres Fund, in which GIB is the cornerstone investor. GIB has committed £50m to the fund, to make investments in small scale energy efficiency projects.
The project will finance the installation of a 1.3 MW combined heat and power (CHP) unit at Cheltenham General Hospital. The project is structured so that the Trust does not have to make any upfront capital investment. This 'spend to save' model means that the repayments will be paid for from the cost savings generated by reducing electricity consumption. The project will save the Trust money from day one.
As well as reducing the Trust's energy costs by 40 per cent, the project will reduce the Trust's greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent.
As one of the most energy intensive organisations in the UK - spending more than £750 million on energy costs each year - the NHS is actively exploring ways to reduce energy use and save money. In response, GIB has created the Health Sector Energy Efficiency Financing Programme to help Trusts and Health Boards finance energy efficiency measures. GIB estimates that energy efficiency measures could cut the current energy bill by up to 20 per cent, £150 million each year.
GIB has today published a report 'A healthy saving: energy efficiency and the NHS' which sets out the scale of the opportunity and the help GIB can offer.
Investment in energy efficiency could provide the NHS with more reliable and resilient systems that would significantly reduce costs and operating risks. It is estimated that the capital investment requirement in the NHS estate could be up to £1.5 billion.
The NHS has already adopted a target to cut its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 10 per cent by 2015. By introducing energy efficiency measures such as combined heat and power systems, LED lighting, heating, ventilation and control systems and biomass boilers, GHG emissions could be quickly cut by 25 per cent.
GIB and its partners are running a series of seminars on NHS Energy Efficiency across the UK, the events began in Birmingham, and future events are planned.
Shaun Kingsbury
Chief Executive, UK Green Investment Bank
Norman Lamb
Minister of State for Health
Allan Vlah
Infrastructure Fund Manager, Aviva Investors
Media enquiries
About Aviva Investors
Aviva Investors is the global asset management business of Aviva plc. The business delivers investment management solutions, services and client-driven performance to clients worldwide. Aviva Investors operates in 15 countries in Asia Pacific, Europe, North America and the United Kingdom with assets under management of £246 billion at 30 September 2013.
About Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
The Trust is one of the largest hospital trusts in the country and provides high quality acute elective and specialist care for a population of more than 612,000 people. It has over 7,500 staff, and operates two large district general hospitals in Cheltenham and Gloucester.