Next-generation energy innovators will receive a £24 million cash
boost to develop new technologies that will decarbonise UK
industry, build home-grown energy supplies and help prepare the
country for a net zero future.
Thirty-seven British companies, including small and medium-sized
enterprises and start-ups, will get a share of the £19 million
Energy Entrepreneurs Fund.
The money will drive forward their innovations to reduce carbon
emissions, develop clean energy and improve energy efficiency in
people’s homes.
The UK-wide projects will allow industry to play its part in
helping the country meet its 2050 net zero target by delivering
decarbonisation solutions, as well as potentially creating
hundreds of green jobs and triggering private sector investment
worth millions. The winning projects include:
-
offshore wind robotic inspectors: Inductive
Power Projection Ltd, based in Cornwall, which will use their
£444,080 funding to develop an innovative high-frequency
wireless charging demonstrator to power floating off-shore wind
autonomous ‘robotic’ drones, to inspect and maintain offshore
wind farms
-
solar architecture: Build Solar Ltd (a spin
out from Exeter University) received £271,933 to develop a
low-cost glass brick called Solar Squared for buildings,
collecting solar energy via the walls themselves, allowing
buildings to generate their own power
-
offshore wind communications: Jet Engineering
System Solutions, based in the south-east, received £255,754 to
develop a 5G floating network enabling high-speed, dependable
long-range communications at sea to aid wind farm
installation
-
decommissioning oil wells: Clearwell
Technology Ltd, based in Scotland, received £223,872 to design
a thermal pipe milling tool for well plugging – a green tech
that could transform how oil and gas wells are sustainably
decommissioned
Secretary of State for the Department for Energy Security &
Net Zero, said:
The UK is a nation of innovators, and this funding will help the
next generation of energy pioneers develop cheap and green
technologies of the future.
This will not only deliver more green jobs and cheaper energy but
also create world-leading solutions to help us reach net zero and
economic growth.
Also announced today, the government will launch a £5 million
Local Industrial Decarbonation Plans competition this summer. The
competition will support groups of industrial businesses such as
glass, cement and ceramics manufacturers, join together in
‘clusters’. Along with other key stakeholders including local
authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), these ‘local
industrial clusters’ will develop coordinated and collaborative
decarbonisation plans that will kickstart their journey towards a
low-carbon future.
The Local Industrial Decarbonation Plans competition will take a
similar approach to how existing clusters like Teesside and Black
Country are tackling industrial carbon emissions. Representing a
major step forward in helping dispersed industrial sites begin
their journey to decarbonise in the 2020s, this builds on one of
the key commitments the government set out in their Net Zero
Strategy. Winners are set to be announced in later in 2023,
and further detail about the competition will follow in the
spring.
The Energy Entrepreneurs Fund and Local Industrial
Decarbonisation Plans competition will not only help to
supercharge the UK’s move to domestic renewable energy – they
also form part of the government’s wider plans to bring down the
cost of energy by enabling the development of green global
solutions of the future.
Bruce Cardo, Director of Clearwell Technology said:
We are thrilled to have the support of the Energy Entrepreneurs
Fund which will allow us to bring our thermal pipe milling
technology for oil and gas well decommissioning to market faster,
helping us to achieve our goal of delivering step change in the
cost of decommissioning of legacy oil and gas infrastructure.
James Thomas, CEO of Jet Engineering System Solutions, said:
EEF funding
support is an incredibly valuable step for JET in our innovation
deployment roadmap, facilitating a major trial of our 5G base
station platforms. We are looking forward to getting started with
the project R&D and making the
most of the support of the government throughout.
Notes to editors
- The Energy Entrepreneurs Fund (EEF) funding has been made
available from the government’s £1 billion Net Zero Innovation
Portfolio, which looks to accelerate the commercialisation
of low-carbon technologies and systems
- see full list of previous
winners
- industry plays an important role in the UK economy,
contributing £180 billion in 2019 and 2.6 million jobs in 2022.
It is also a major source of carbon emissions, but needs to
decarbonise in a way that protects competitiveness and creates
jobs
- with an ambition to achieve net zero by 2050, the government
want to help industry progress towards a prosperous low carbon
future, and the Local Industrial Decarbonisation Plans
competition will play an important role in setting industry on
the right path
