The funding will support projects to develop new technologies that increase energy efficiency in homes and buildings, reduce carbon emissions, boost the UK’s energy security and provide cleaner ways to generate power and heat.
The investment will support projects that will play a key part in the UK’s green industrial revolution - helping to generate green jobs and kickstart millions of pounds of private sector investment.
From today, businesses developing technologies new to the UK are able to bid for a share of £64 million in government funding supporting projects that will capture carbon emissions and remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere – through the Direct Air Capture and Greenhouse Gas Removal programme.
This funding will support companies to put cutting-edge technology in operation, which will stimulate further investment from the private sector, and help develop UK expertise in this area.
Projects supported under the first phase of the programme include a range of igreen technologies such as using absorbents that can capture CO2 directly from the air (Direct Air Capture) and capturing the CO2 stored in natural material such as waste wood through combustion to produce energy (Bioenergy with Carbon Capture). Through this new funding under the second phase, these projects will be developed from the design stage into demonstration projects, which could scale up to be commercial projects by 2025.
Commenting the Energy and Climate Change Minister, Greg Hands, said, “This £116 million government investment will support businesses across the nation to turn their green ideas into reality, and to develop ground-breaking projects that save energy, slash utility bills and tackle pollution."
In addition, the government is supporting energy entrepreneurs across the UK with £30 million in funding to develop a wide range of new decarbonisation and energy saving technologies.
Under the latest round of funding from the government’s Energy Entrepreneurs Fund, 58 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will receive grants to develop and demonstrate new technologies across the areas of energy efficiency, power generation, heat generation and energy storage.
The government previously announced £11 million would be made available for this phase of the Energy Entrepreneurs Fund, but due to the large number of exceptional high-quality applications that were made, the government is offering an additional £19 million, bringing the total funding for this round to £30 million.
The energy efficiency projects receiving funding under this round of the EEF include:
Smart Ventilation, Belfast: will receive £524,626 to develop Think.Air, a low energy, residential ventilation system, that will use AI to improve the performance and functionality of home heating control systems
Bramble Energy, Crawley: will receive £994,050 to further develop their hydrogen fuel cell technology, to replace diesel engine in boats, potentially saving 50,000 tonnes of CO2 a year
Clearwell Technology, Aberdeenshire: will receive £371,500 to develop new technology that will remove significant greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere as part of the decommissioning of old oil and gas wells
Rotaheat, Wales: will receive £676,560 to develop low carbon heating solutions for urban environments, using wind turbines to provide heating for homes.
