Businesses in Wales are being urged to take advantage of an interest free loan scheme to help them become more energy efficient.

The Carbon Trust is offering finance from £3,000 up to £200,000 to Welsh small and medium sized enterprises that want to implement environmentally friendly and energy efficient measures which can reduce carbon emissions (CO2).

The move has been praised by Andy Boroughs, the managing director of Welshpool- based Organic Energy, as a way to encourage more businesses to go green. “This scheme is undoubtedly an incentive to businesses that might be keen to make the move towards renewable energy technologies but don’t want to invest their own capital. “The Carbon Trust is offering a £1,000 loan for every 1.5t of CO2 your project is expected to save per year so there are grounds for businesses to install as many energy saving measures as possible. “Ultimately, as well as saving the environment, it’s about reducing the running costs of a business so a loan would reap the benefits in the long term.”

A wide range of projects qualify for the funding ranging from heating systems and renewables including biomass systems, solar photovoltaics and solar thermal heating. Organic Energy, which was established by Mr Boroughs more than 10 years ago, is one of the forerunners of wood pellet boiler technology and the sole UK distributor of the ÖkoFEN range of Pellematic wood pellet boilers.

He added: “If businesses are looking to upgrade or replace their existing heating systems, biomass – using wood pellets – offers a sustainable and efficient form of heating. “Our boilers are highly advanced and burn the wood pellets so efficiently, CO2 emissions are kept at a very low level so it ticks all the boxes.”

The interest free loan scheme is also available in Northern Ireland. There is a loan scheme for large businesses, public sector organisations and those based in England but they are not interest free. For more information or to apply for an interest free loan, go to www.carbontrust.com/walesloans or email loans@carbontrust.com