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Green entrepreneurs fund

A £2 million grant fund to help businesses, organisations communities and individuals interested in developing skills in the green economy and investing in green energy and carbon reduction schemes.


The green entrepreneurs fund, which is being run in collaboration with the University of Derby, is made up of 3 funding streams and we're currently inviting applications to each of the 3 funds.

Green entrepreneurs small grant fund

Grants of between £6,000 to £20,000 are available for proposals for alternative energy, clean fuel and carbon reduction projects.

To be eligible, projects must have a minimum spend of £15,000 and there is a maximum intervention rate of 40%. A total of £500,000 has been set aside for this fund.

Register you interest in the small grant fund.

Green entrepreneurs demonstrator grant fund

£1.2 million has been earmarked for a small number of high-quality, larger scale carbon-cutting projects in Derbyshire. This fund is open to larger scale projects that are designed to encourage solutions beyond the mainstream of current thinking.

The maximum grant available through this fund is £200,000.

Register your interest in the demonstrator fund.

Green entrepreneurs scholarship fund

This fund will support individuals to retrain with skills to enable them to enter the field of low carbon, green energy. Individuals can access up to £1,500 for training costs. £100,000 has been set aside for this fund.

The scholarship grants will allow individuals to study around their existing responsibilities. It will enable them to obtain the skills and qualifications they need to change their career or progress in employment. The study can take place either online or face to face or a combination of both.

Applicants are encouraged to contact the careers service and discuss their plans before applying for a green entrepreneur programme scholarship grant.

Register your interest in the scholarship fund.

Application requirements for small and demonstrator grant funds

Small to medium-sized businesses, micro-businesses not for profit organisations, charities and other organisations in Derbyshire (excluding Derby City) are welcome to apply.

Small to medium sized businesses are classed as having up to 250 staff and micro-business up to 10 staff.

All applicants will need to demonstrate that this funding support will help them achieve:

  • measurable reductions in carbon emissions
  • an increase in the scope, resilience and / or scale of their activity
  • an improvement in organisational performance and demonstrate a positive impact towards low carbon, energy efficiency and/or alternative energy initiatives

Application requirements for the scholarships fund

To be eligible to apply for a grant under the scholarships fund applicants must:

  • be an individual
  • live in Derbyshire (outside of Derby City Council boundaries)
  • study and gain skills / qualifications in low carbon technologies that contribute to a net-zero carbon economy
  • be 19 years old or over

The grant will pay for training where there is no other support available to fund that learning. Applicants will be ineligible if when they apply, they are:

  • attending further or higher education on a fulltime basis or
  • in any government funded learning, where 100% of the cost is already paid
  • an ineligible overseas national

About the programme

Funded through our COVID recovery fund, the green entrepreneurs fund programme has been set up in collaboration with the University of Derby as part of our COVID economic strategy and climate change commitments.

Grants are awarded by the green entrepreneurs fund programme board, which includes representatives from the county council and the University of Derby. Decisions will be based on the recommendations of assessing officers.