The deadline fast approaches for colleges to apply for an interest-free loan for energy saving projects.

Colleges must get their application in to the £5 million College Energy Fund by midday on 30 January 2015.

Run by Salix, it is open to any further education (FE) college in England, Scotland and Wales which gets a majority of its income directly from the public sector.

The loan will be paid back to Salix directly by direct debit on a six-monthly basis over four years.

Salix was set up in 2004 by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and since then has funded £31 million of energy efficiency projects in 201 FE colleges. It now falls under the remit of Department of Energy and Climate Change.

There are certain criteria which projects must meet:

– A maximum 5 year payback period
– Less than £100 per tonne of CO2 over the lifetime of the project
– Projects over £100,000 require a Salix Business Case

However if colleges can put forward some part of the up-front cash, the payback period can be flexible, according to Salix.

Watch the recent webinar about how to apply here and more notes on applying here.

Loans should be awarded by the end of February 2015.