The Government has announced that it will use part of its infrastructure investment guarantee fund to kick-start the Green Deal.

The UK Guarantee scheme was unveiled in July and aims to underwrite £40bn of  projects within the National Infrastructure Plan.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander announced at a UK Trade and Investment Infrastructure summit that the Green Deal will will be an early candidate for the use of these guarantees.

Danny Alexander said: “The Green Deal is the largest ever programme for investing in the energy efficiency of our housing stock and we are looking at whether and how a guarantee could help ensure that the finances are in place to get the programme off to a very strong start. The deals my colleagues are announcing show that theUKis already in a strong position and the work we are doing on infrastructure will strengthen this further still.”

The Treasury has received more than 30 enquiries about funding for major projects under the scheme and it is receiving more on a daily basis.

Under the scheme the Government will use its strong balance sheet to shoulder major project risk by offering guarantees for projects that are ready to start within 12 months.

A £7m loan from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to The Green Deal Finance Company (TGDFC) has been agreed today that will allow TGDFC to continue developing its offer of low cost finance, expected to be available early in 2013.

Green Deal Providers will be able to access finance through TGDFC, enabling them to offer low cost finance packages to consumers upgrading their homes under the Green Deal.