UK Green Investment Bank and Equitix invest in UK-wide commercial LED installation programme

The UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) and Equitix have announced a commitment of £5 million (US$7.86 million) to fund a building retrofit programme throughout the UK.

Energy Saving Investments (ESI), the Equitix-managed fund in which GIB is a cornerstone investor, is investing £2.5 million (US$3.9 million) in the project. This will mobilize the same amount of additional private sector capital from the Equitix Energy Efficiency Fund (EEEF).

The developer, Climate Energy, has a robust pipeline of opportunities and is developing the first energy efficient LED lighting project at global aviation supplier GKN Aerospace's Falcon Yard facility on the Isle of Wright. It will then look to deliver a number of other schemes across other sectors at various UK locations.

The lighting will be installed by SSE Contracting, owned by Equitix ESI and managed by Climate Energy. It will be leased by GKN, relieving it of the financial and maintenance costs associated with the installation, operation and upkeep of the systems.

The new lighting will be specially selected to optimize the light levels required for the work carried out on each particular site.

Geoff Jackson, CEO of Equitix, has commented:

"It is good to see companies taking a serious interest in their energy consumption and implementing responsive action to make a change. This simple yet efficient technology is well proven and is set to make a real difference to those who choose to install it."

The GIB backed 22 new green energy projects in 2014/2015, committing £723 million (US$1.1 billion) of its own capital to projects with a total value of £2.5 billion (US$3.9 billion).

The bank recently announced that it has reached profitability after two and a half year of operations. The UK Government has also announced its intention to bring private capital into GIB in the near future.