Five Scottish projects are among the next generation of energy innovators who will receive a £24 million cash boost from the UK Government to develop new technologies that will decarbonise UK industry, build home-grown energy supplies and help prepare 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. And there's to be a further £5million available through the Local Industrial Decarbonisation competition which will launch this summer.
The Energy Entrepreneurs Fund will drive forward 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 Scottish projects include:
- Decommissioning oil wells: Clearwell Technology Ltd, based in Aberdeen, 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
- Tidal turbine testing - Glasgow based, Flex Marine Power Ltd, received £968,205, towards a lower cost tidal turbine for coastal power generation within a microgrid which will be tested with community partners on the island of Islay
The other Scottish recipients are Innovatium Group Ltd (£324,413.71) and Synaptec Ltd (£829,220.41), both based in Glasgow and Power Enable Solutions Ltd t/a REOptimize Systems (£660,854.40) in Edinburgh. Further information here
Secretary of State for the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero Grant Shapps 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."
Welcoming the announcement Minister for Scotland John Lamont said:
"I am delighted that five Scottish projects have received funding from the UK Government. Energy innovation is a vital part in helping the UK reach our net zero target by 2050 and these Scottish projects will be key to discovering decarbonisation solutions as well as helping to boost green jobs and economic growth."
Also announced today, the government will launch a £5 million Local Industrial Decarbonisation 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 Decarbonisation 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 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."
