Energy regulator Ofgem and Innovate UK have announced a batch of 53 projects that will each receive up to £150,000 from the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF).

SIF is a five-year programme introduced in 2021 to help spearhead the shift to a lower carbon future across the gas and electricity networks, in line with the Government’s net zero objectives.

Innovate UK has estimated that all the innovation projects submitted to the SIF to date will deliver cost savings in the billions of pounds over the next 10–15 years, in turn benefitting consumers, as well as cutting millions of tonnes of CO2 emissions. 

The latest 53 chosen projects explore new ideas with the potential to help consumers and transform the energy system in the coming years. The projects, currently in the conceptual phase, are being led by energy network companies working in partnership with innovators and partner organisations.

Concepts are targeted at tackling some of the greatest challenges facing the energy system and society including:

The development of large-scale battery storage, which will be needed in a grid which utilises intermittent renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power

Helping speed up connections of wind and solar power to the grid and improving the efficiency of green hydrogen production whilst also making the most of existing energy infrastructure

Supporting a ‘just energy transition’ including helping consumers who may be disadvantaged, fuel-poor, living in vulnerable circumstances or off the gas grid reduce their heating and transport emissions

Concepts being explored include using electric vehicles to rapidly restore power to the vulnerable such as those reliant on dialysis machines during power cuts. Another project is looking at how an entire terraced street could be decarbonised using an affordable smart local energy system.

Other concepts being explored include looking at how wind farms, instead of fossil fuel generators, could be used to restore the grid following a blackout – something not currently possible, while another project is exploring whether hydrogen production costs could be cut by using wastewater rather than pure water.

The projects are being given up to three months to further explore and develop their concepts and assess their potential and prepare plans for future phases. Each project will then be assessed by a panel of SIF judges and those judged to have the greatest potential will then be awarded up to £500,000 for a further six-month proof of concept phase, which would start in the summer. This will be followed by a third phase, whereby the remaining projects will compete for funding to demonstrate prototypes starting in early 2024.

The projects which ultimately are commercially developed could start to be rolled out operationally into energy networks in the mid to late 2020s and play an important part in helping Great Britain achieving a cleaner, cheaper, and more secure energy future.

Neil Kenward, Ofgem Director for Strategy and Decarbonisation said: “Great Britain has a long history of being in the vanguard of innovation. Our work with Innovate UK is empowering today’s innovators and helping establish Britain as an entrepreneurial energy innovation hub developing and delivering the power solutions of tomorrow.

“This will help in the quest to transform our energy systems at pace and boost supplies of clean and secure energy at the least cost to consumers and ensure that no one is left behind.”

Mike Biddle, Executive Director for Net Zero at Innovate UK, said: “Our vision is for the UK to prosper from being the economy that transitions fastest to net zero. We’re delighted to be working closely with Ofgem and the energy sector on the Strategic Innovation Fund, and to see a new cohort of innovative projects coming through that will help drive the decarbonisation of our energy networks.”

Matt Hastings, Deputy Director of the Ofgem SIF programme at Innovate UK, said: “As projects from our last year’s challenges move closer towards their demonstration phase, and real-world deployment, we’re kicking off the next batch of Discovery projects in parallel.

“Discovery is all about urgent learning and taking risks; we expect a degree of failure. This ensures that only the best ideas make it through to the next phases, with the amount of projects reducing as the level of consumer investment in SIF projects increases.”

Watch short videos about each of the projects: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrMOhOrmeR6ldr-EVoT8ABGhTCxgyBKqs

Funding decision documents https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/strategic-innovation-fund-round-2-discovery-projects-approved-funding