The UK’s “green” bank has made a £50 million commitment for energy efficiency projects in an effort to help businesses cut energy bills.

The Green Investment Bank (GIB), officially opened yesterday, provided the cash to Sustainable Development Capital (SDCL) for its ‘Energy Efficiency Investments Fund’.

It will give £5 million from the investment to Kingspan Group to help retrofit its UK’s factories with systems such as energy metering, building management systems, lighting upgrade, compressed air system upgrade and fan optimisation. This is expected to help cut its energy usage by up to 15% and save more than 4,500 tonnes of carbon emissions per year.

Jonathan Maxwell, SDCL’s CEO said: “Reducing demand for energy is potentially the most cost-effective and rational way of reducing emissions and improving the security of energy supply.”

The first project, expected to start next month, will take place at Kingspan’s Holywell factory in North Wales, which is part of the firm’s insulated panels division. Johnson Controls, which helps improve energy efficiency in buildings, will provide the service for the projects.

Shaun Kingsbury, CEO of the UK GIB said: “This project represents a significant development in the energy efficiency market. Energy efficiency improvement should be one of the most compelling investments companies can make. I hope that the example set by Kingspan, SDCL and Johnson Controls can be followed across the UK both to reduce wasteful consumption of energy and to save businesses money.”

The UK GIB is designed to encourage private sector investment in helping the UK move towards a greener economy.