funding Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Energy Management Summit | Forum Events Ltd

Energy Management Summit | Forum Events Ltd Energy Management Summit | Forum Events Ltd Energy Management Summit | Forum Events Ltd Energy Management Summit | Forum Events Ltd Energy Management Summit | Forum Events Ltd

Posts Tagged :

funding

Government pledges £80 million to help cut emissions from homes and industry

960 640 Stuart O'Brien

Energy Minister Kwasi Kwarteng has announced nearly £80 million of government investment to help cut carbon emissions from homes and energy intensive businesses.

The funding will be invested in a wide range of programmes, including pioneering heat network trials and an innovative new programme to bring down the cost of retrofitting residential properties with the latest energy efficiency technologies.

Funds announced include:

  • £30 million towards the first phase of the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF), which supports energy intensive manufacturers, like car factories and steel plants, to cut their carbon footprint
  • £25 million for heat networks, which reduce carbon and cut heating bills for customers, including one which will harness geothermal water sitting in disused mines to heat 1,250 homes
  • £24 million for innovative projects to help develop energy efficient homes by installing green tech and insulation in houses

Energy Minister Kwasi Kwarteng said: “We want to invest now to ensure we continue to propel the UK towards a stronger, greener future. This new £80 million investment will help to reduce emissions across our economy, which will save people money on energy bills and protect jobs in heavy industry.”

Phase 1 of the IETF is worth an initial £30 million in support of the manufacturing sector. The fund allows companies with high energy use to apply for grants to install technology that reduces their energy bills and cuts carbon emissions.

Worth an eventual £289 million in England, Wales and Northern Ireland up until 2024, the IETF also seeks to help bring down the costs of technologies that reduce energy consumption and emissions in heavy industrial processes.

£25 million will go towards heat networks, including one in Gateshead, which will harness hot geothermal water sitting in disused mines to heat 1,250 homes. With thousands of redundant mine shafts criss-crossing the country, experts say that if the mine shaft technology proves successful and economically viable, it could be scaled up to power around 6 million homes around Britain.

The final £24 million green homes investment will comprise of:

  • £7.7 million to install green technology and insulation in over 300 council houses, to bring down the cost of retrofitting homes – with pilot projects in Cornwall, Nottingham, and Sutton
  • £14.6 million to pilot the roll-out of innovative heat pumps to 750 homes in the South East of Scotland, the South East of England and Newcastle
  • £1.8 million to support the development of innovative green home finance products by lenders.

The announcements today form part of the wider efforts to ensure the UK meets its legally binding target to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

‘Superfunds’ should drive Britain’s green future, says think tank

960 640 Stuart O'Brien

New British pension ‘superfunds’ should be created to invest in infrastructure for country’s green recovery.

That’s the view of the Social Market Foundation, which also says that ministers preparing for a ‘green recovery’ from coronavirus should be ready to take more risks and spend public money up front to support innovative ‘pathfinder’ infrastructure projects and new renewable energy markets in their early stages.

The cross-party think tank says building new roads, power sources and communications networks could create much-needed jobs and make Britain’s economy more productive and resilient, with priority given to “shovel-ready” projects that support domestic supply chains and employment.

In a new report, the SMF identified pension reform as the key to financing and funding new infrastructure.

Ministers should encourage UK pension funds to merge into fewer, larger funds able to invest large sums in big long-term projects, the SMF said, citing Australia and Canada, where such funds have successfully delivered major infrastructure investments.

The government launched consultations on pension consolidation and the creation of “superfunds” in 2018 and 2019, but despite Boris Johnson’s previous support for the plans, ministers have yet to announce decisions.

The SMF said that the need to support an economic recovery with infrastructure projects meant “urgent action” is now needed on pension reform.

Investment rules should also be reformed to allow the new funds to pay the management fees often involved in running big infrastructure projects, the SMF said in a report setting out how to get more private money into big UK projects.

The SMF report was sponsored by Tidal Power Limited, which is pursuing plans to build a fleet of new tidal lagoons to generate power for the UK grid.

The report draws on a roundtable discussion among parliamentarians, former officials, investors and academics. Based on that event, the SMF concluded that politicians must offer much greater certainty and financial clarity to investors about the profits they can make from funding infrastructure projects.

Such profits should be energetically explained to voters as a necessary condition of private financing of public infrastructure, the SMF said. Political pressure to eliminate profits from private finance deals helps deter investment in infrastructure, the report found.

Politicians’ determination to minimise taxpayer costs by asking the market to fund new projects is also limiting Britain’s ability to build new infrastructure projects, the SMF said.

To support the economic recovery, government should be prepared to take more risks by spending directly to support new “pathfinder” projects that would then be replicated by private investors if they succeed.

The SMF also recommended:

  • A cross-party commission with an independent chair should be created to establish a “strategic vision” of the UK’s infrastructure needs over at least the next decade. Parties taking part in the commission should give public commitments to ensure financial and regulatory support for the projects identified in the vision.
  • An urgent review of planning regulations should be undertaken with the aim of reducing planning risk for investors. This could include narrowing the scope for Judicial Review of projects identified as top priorities by the new cross-party commission.

Richard Hyde, Senior Researcher at the SMF said: “The best way to support the infrastructure the country urgently needs in the long-run is to make better use of the billions of pounds held in pension funds that could be profitably invested in helping Britain on its way to a green recovery. Ministers should move quickly to encourage the creation of pension superfunds like those in Australia and Canada.

“In the short-term, ministers looking to get infrastructure projects up and running and providing jobs should be prepared to spend directly to support pathfinders that can prove to investors that it is safe to invest in similar projects. That means taxpayers bearing more of the risk, but the long-term rewards justify that risk.” 

£3m funding for smart energy systems

960 640 Stuart O'Brien

UK businesses and researchers can apply for a share of up to £3 million to support projects to develop important technology components that improve the efficiency of local energy systems.

The funding, available through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund’s Prospering from the Energy Revolution Challenge, aims to support projects that investigate innovative components that would improve the efficiency of local energy systems.

Areas of interest include applications for monitoring gas and electricity hardware and software, improving integration between local and national electricity networks and markets, optimisation of generation in real time across many sites, operators and aggregators, improving efficiency of heat networks, heating and cold storage, especially inter-seasonal and optimising the coupling of electricity, heat and transport.

The competition opens on 22 July 2019, with the deadline for applications midday on 9 October 2019.

Businesses of any size may apply, with expected projects to range in size between £100,000 and £500,000

For more information click here: 

https://apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk/competition/397/overview#summary

Image by Alberto Sanchez from Pixabay

Leading edge demonstrators to ‘jumpstart energy revolution’

960 640 Stuart O'Brien

Four smart energy systems demonstrator projects across the UK have been announced by Energy and Clean Growth Minister Claire Perry.

From charging electric vehicles and managing heating and power through machine learning to storing power with lithium ion batteries and using heat pumps, the projects are designed to show how energy innovation can be put together to provide cheaper, cleaner energy for users.

The projects are:

  • The Energy Superhub, Oxford, led by Pivot Power LLP
  • ReFLEX Orkney, Orkney, led by the European Marine Energy Centre
  • Project Leo (Local Energy Oxfordshire), led by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks
  • Smart Hub SLES, West Sussex, led by Advanced Infrastructure

Perry said: “We are at the start of a green revolution, as we move to more digital, data-driven smart systems that will bring us cleaner and cheaper energy. These projects, backed by government funding, are set to spark a transformation and change the way we interact with energy for the better as part of our modern Industrial Strategy.

“We’re excited to see how these businesses and project partners reveal how innovative tech, such as energy storage, heat networks and electric vehicles, can set us on the path to a smarter energy future. This is tomorrow’s world, today.”

Rob Saunders, Deputy Challenge Director, Prospering from the Energy Revolution, UK Research and Innovation said: “We all need energy systems that are cheaper, cleaner and consumer-friendly. We have a great opportunity with these demonstrators to show just how innovation can deliver this energy ambition for the future. Supported by the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, these projects can drive investment, create high-quality jobs and grow companies with export potential.”

As part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, the £102.5 million Prospering from the Energy Revolution Challenge will develop cutting-edge capabilities in local systems that deliver cleaner, cheaper and more resilient energy for consumers, while also creating high-value jobs for the UK.

The challenge brings together businesses working with the best research and expertise to transform the way energy is delivered and used. This includes providing energy in ways that consumers want by linking low-carbon power, heating and transport systems with energy storage and advanced IT to create intelligent local energy systems and services.

The funding is awarded competitively by UK Research and Innovation, the new organisation that brings together the UK Research Councils, Innovate UK and Research England into a single organisation to create the best environment for research and innovation to flourish.

Projects must demonstrate new, smarter, local energy approaches at scale, which can:

  • provide cleaner, cheaper, more desirable energy services for the end user lead to more prosperous and resilient communities
  • prove new business models that are suitable for investment and can grow and replicate in the 2020s
  • provide evidence on the impacts and efficiency of novel energy system approaches by the early 2020s

EV Charging Management Platform Driivz secures $12m

960 640 Stuart O'Brien

Driivz has secured $12 million investment from a funding round with participants including Inven Capital, Centrica and Ombu Group.

The three funds will join the board of directors of the company alongside Tsahi Merkur, the company’s founder and seed investor.

Inven says Israel-based Driivz was selected following a ‘comprehensive due diligence process for its leadership and innovative approach developing the best-in-class Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Management platform for EV service providers’.

The Driivz platform is already deployed by multiple energy companies, used by over 300,000 drivers, and supports more than 80 types of charging stations.

The partners say there is a rising need for a reliable, stable, and easy to use charging infrastructure. In addition, the mounting demand for electricity, the increased burden on the existing electricity grid, and the emphasis on the use of renewable energy, has led utility companies to rethink their production and storage assets as well as their control systems.

Finally, one of the most important factors to enable the expected growth in adoption of EVs is the availability of an effective, comprehensive, easy-to-use charging platform that is based on open standards. These factors, they say, make the Driivz management platform a ‘must-have solution’.

The Driivz EV Charging Management platform is an end-to-end, modular system, offering charging operations management, user & grid management, billing capabilities, home, public & workplace charging support, and driver enablement apps. It is fully compliant with OCPP 2.0 and ISO 15118: Vehicle to Grid (V2G) Communication Interface, for communication between EVs and the charging stations.

“The electric vehicle market is experiencing phenomenal growth, and there is no longer doubt that this technology will become mainstream within the next decade. This growth must be supported with an efficient EV charging infrastructure, which is effectively managed to facilitate the increase in energy demand. INVEN continually seeks investment opportunities in companies positioned to lead the energy revolution such as Driivz, which offers a comprehensive and innovative platform providing the most advanced energy management capabilities,” said Michal Mravec, Investment Manager, Inven Capital.

“We are excited to welcome INVEN as our newest investor, and believe we are now well positioned to continue to deliver on our promise of developing leading innovative solutions for the EV charging industry,” said Doron Frenkel, CEO of Driivz. “Driivz is committed to leading the energy revolution by empowering EV service providers and Utilities to use the electrification of transport as a balancing tool to enable more efficient power utilization.”

“It’s great to welcome another investor to the table as Driivz continues to grow its global position as a leader in EV charging management. Having already integrated their platform into our own intelligent EV charging offer, I have no doubt that Driivz will continue to play an important role in building the technology that will see e-mobility at the very heart of an energy future that is cleaner and more connected than ever,” said Charles Cameron, Chairman of Centrica Innovations.

  • 1
  • 2