Ocean energy fit for a share of EU Innovation Fund’s €300B call under two topics

Under the recently opened €3 billion call for innovative next-generation low-carbon technologies as part of EU’s Innovation Fund, ocean energy technologies and projects have been specifically listed as eligible to apply for a share of €1 billion under two call topics.

Launched early in November, the European Commission’s third call for large-scale projects under the EU Innovation Fund has doubled its budget to €3 billion, thanks to increased revenue from the auctioning of EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) allowances.

According to the Commission, this 2022 call for clean tech projects will boost the deployment of industrial solutions to decarbonize Europe, and provide additional support towards ending the EU’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels.

The Innovation Fund is implemented by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA), while the European Investment Bank (EIB) provides the project development assistance to promising projects that are not sufficiently mature.

Aside from the available call budget of €3 billion for grants, an additional €6 million for project development assistance support has also been arranged, according to the Innovation Fund call.

The latest Innovation Fund call has been divided into four topics – where general decarbonization, and innovative electrification in industry and hydrogen reserved €1 billion budget each. The last two topics, clean tech manufacturing and mid-size pilots, were granted €700 million and €300 million respectively.

According to the guidance document, ocean energy has been listed as eligible to apply in the last two topics, along with other renewable energy installations such as solar, onshore and offshore wind, geothermal and others.

When it comes to the clean tech manufacturing bit, the objective is to support projects on innovative clean-tech manufacturing of components for hydrogen production, renewable energy and energy storage in order to build industrial capacity, technology leadership, supply chain resilience and strategic autonomy on these decarbonization technologies within the EU.

In regards to components, the topic is targeting those that are a significant factor in the performance and/or cost of the final equipment. Activities relating to the recycling of critical materials to be used in the above mentioned equipment categories or components, thereof may also be funded under this topic.

The mid-size pilots topic, deemed by Ocean Energy Europe as the most interesting for ocean energy projects, will fund highly innovative, disruptive or breakthrough technologies in deep decarbonization needed for achieving the climate neutrality goal and strengthening synergies with the Horizon Europe program.

Deep decarbonization technology means technology that has the potential to be fully compatible with a 2050 climate neutrality objective. The pilot installation itself should have a very low level of residual emissions or result in net carbon removals, according to the call guidance.

Activities that will be funded under this call scope include construction and operation of pilot projects that focus on validating, testing and optimizing deep decarbonization solutions in specific industrial sectors, including renewable energy installations such as ocean energy, and offshore wind, amongst others, as well as innovative systems aspects such as connection to the electricity grid.

The maximum amount of Innovation Fund grant for an individual project under this topic is limited to €40 million, it is stated in the guidance document.

In this topic, a higher degree of innovation is expected than in the other topics.

Consequently, the activities that can be funded are those that tackle technical risks linked to the innovative technologies and solutions, like optimizing process and operational parameters of the innovation, and/or improving the characteristics of the final products produced.

Pilot projects should prove the technology solution in an operational environment, but are not expected yet to reach large scale demonstration or commercial production. Nevertheless, the project can entail limited production/operation for testing purposes, including delivery to/from potential customers for validation, according to the Innovation Fund.

Typically, these projects would have a limited life-time of three to five years, and if the project proves successful, the proposed technology should move to the next stage of a large-scale demonstration or first-of-a-kind commercial production, the call guidance states.

The call is open for projects located in EU Member States, Iceland and Norway. Projects can apply via the EU Funding and Tenders portal until March 16, 2023, where the information on the overall procedure is also available.

Applicants will be informed about the results of the evaluation in the second quarter of 2023, while the grant awards and signature of projects will take place in the fourth quarter the same year, according to the European Commission.

With a currently estimated revenue of approximately €38 billion until 2030, the Innovation Fund aims to create the right financial incentives for companies and public bodies to invest now in the next generation of low-carbon technologies and give EU companies a first-mover advantage to become global technology leaders.

As proposed under the Fit for 55 package currently being negotiated by the co-legislators, the Fund would be substantially increased to channel even more investments in breakthrough green technologies.

Commenting on the call, executive vice-president of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, said: “Today more than ever, we need to boost innovation and scale up technological solutions that tackle the climate crisis and bring Europe energy sovereignty.

“The faster we do so, the quicker we will become immune to Russian energy blackmail. With this new call of €3 billion, the EU Innovation Fund will support even more clean tech projects than before, speeding up the replacement of fossil fuels in hard-to-decarbonize industries and accelerating the uptake of renewable hydrogen in the EU market.”

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