IETF industrial energy efficiency and decarbonisation studies

Overview

This Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF) competition is offering up to £30 million, split across 2 strands, to fund feasibility, engineering studies and deployment.

In this strand projects must undertake a feasibility or an engineering study (experimental development) to develop either an energy efficiency or a deep decarbonisation project that enables possible subsequent deployment.

Scope

This strand of the competition aims to:

• help industrial companies build a pipeline of future deployment projects by supporting feasibility and engineering studies (experimental development)
• reduce the costs and risks of either industrial energy efficiency or decarbonisation technologies

Feasibility studies

If you are carrying out a feasibility study it must:

• investigate technologies that improve the energy efficiency or reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of an industrial process
• establish whether or not the potential technology is technically and commercially viable

Experimental development (engineering study)

Experimental development projects must be engineering studies. An engineering study is a detailed project plan that identifies specific technical requirements. The final report will be an overall document, summarising many separate studies carried out by different specialists. It is a structured, multi-disciplinary engineering design with the purpose of identifying key project design features and providing a project cost estimate.

Your project must provide sufficient detail to enable the site operator to make a final investment decision.

Innovate UK expect your engineering study to show appropriate consideration of:

• technical approach
• carbon reduction and other benefits analysis
• health and safety
• planning and consenting
• environmental impacts
• economic analysis
• project delivery requirements and scheduling
• project risks

Both feasibility studies and engineering studies must focus on one of the following.

Energy efficiency

Energy efficiency projects must support technologies that improve the energy efficiency of an industrial process or processes.

These must focus on deployment of technology that has been proven to work through successful operations and/or is qualified through test and demonstration.

You must follow the specific technical requirements.

Deep decarbonisation

Deep decarbonisation projects must result in a significant reduction in the greenhouse gas emissions of an industrial process and may not necessarily have an energy efficiency benefit.

These must focus on the deployment of technology that either:

• has been proven to work through successful operations and/or is qualified through test and demonstration

or

• is currently at a prototype stage or requires demonstration of an actual system prototype in an operational environment

You must follow the specific technical requirements.

Eligibility

To lead a project or work alone your organisation:

• must be a business of any size registered in England, Wales or Northern Ireland
• must operate at the manufacturing site or data centre in England, Wales or Northern Ireland where the study is carried out
• can collaborate with other businesses, research organisations, research and technology organisation (RTO), academic institutions or public sector organisations which must all be registered in England, Wales or Northern Ireland
• must carry out its project work in England, Wales or Northern Ireland
• must intend to exploit the results in England, Wales or Northern Ireland
• cannot be an undertaking in difficulty (see section on state aid)

Academic institutions cannot lead or work alone.

This competition is aimed at specific types of business. These are determined by a code allocated at the time of registering at Companies House, called a standard industrial classification (SIC) code.
You will need to check your business SIC code to make sure you are eligible. For this competition your business must be one of these:

• manufacturing 10 to 33
• data centres 63110

To collaborate with the lead your organisation must:

• be a business of any size, a research organisation, a research and technology organisation (RTO), an academic institution or a public sector organisation
• be registered in England, Wales or Northern Ireland
• carry out its project work in England, Wales or Northern Ireland
• intend to exploit the results in England, Wales or Northern Ireland

The lead must claim funding by entering their costs during the application. If the lead is collaborating with other organisations then the lead and at least one other partner must claim grant funding and enter their costs into the Innovation Funding Service.

Funding Costs

Up to £30 million has been allocated to fund projects across 2 competition strands:

• IETF industrial energy efficiency and decarbonisation studies (this strand)
• IETF deployment of energy efficiency technologies in industry

The majority of the funding will be used in the deployment strand.

Under Article 25, the maximum grant funding amount an organisation can receive is €7.5 million for each project it is involved with.

For feasibility studies you could receive funding for your eligible costs of:

• up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation
• up to 60% if you are a medium-sized organisation
• up to 50% if you are a large organisation

Experimental development (for an engineering study)

Under Article 25, the maximum grant funding amount an organisation can receive is €15 million for each project it is involved with.

For experimental development projects you could receive funding for your eligible costs of:

• up to 45% if you are a micro or small organisation
• up to 35% if you are a medium-sized organisation
• up to 25% if you are a large organisation

If your experimental development project qualifies as an ‘effective collaboration’ or widely disseminates knowledge, you could receive funding for your eligible costs of:

• up to 60% if you are a micro or small organisation
• up to 50% if you are a medium-sized organisation
• up to 40% if you are a large organisation

Your project must:

• have total eligible project costs of at least £60,000 and last up to 12 months if it is a feasibility study
• have total eligible project costs of at least £100,000 and last up to 24 months if it is experimental development
• start by 1 October 2021
• end by 30 September 2023

Exclusions

This competition is not funding:

• repair and maintenance projects that would be undertaken in the normal course of business
• plant closure projects
• energy efficiency measures in transport, lighting, or building heating and cooling
• electricity generation, such as solar, wind, combined heat and power without fuel switching
• CO2 transportation and long term storage solutions
• direct air capture technologies
• option analysis or trade studies