Grants cover all manner of industries but, once in a while, a single sector suddenly gets a massive amount of attention.
That’s what’s happening with hydrogen technology at the moment. With the UK knocking on the door of an eco future powered by greener fuels, the spotlight being shone on hydrogen isn’t just making it flavour of the month. You can expect it to dominate the grants landscape for years to come, and that all starts now.
The number of grants that hydrogen fuel pioneers should be targeting right now has ballooned to TEN.
If your company is working on hydrogen fuel and fuel cell technology, these are the grants you need to consider applying for. If you’re interested in any of these opportunities, or want to register with us, email Catax’s Group Head of Grants, Karen Taylor here.
1.
Grant: NZIP Proposed Industrial Hydrogen Accelerator (IHA) Stream 1 (end-to-end project)
Maximum grant value: £10million
Deadline: 21st July 2022
This grant supports organisations creating end-to-end demonstration projects that switch industrial applications to hydrogen fuel. Projects will need to combine hydrogen generation, delivery infrastructure and, ultimately, an industrial use into a single project. Half the hydrogen produced must have an industrial purpose. Applicants will need to demonstrate they can provide match funding. This is all geared to help build confidence in hydrogen as a fuel solution over the next few years, reducing risk and evidencing the technology’s real-world performance and costs.
2.
Grant: NZIP Proposed Industrial Hydrogen Accelerator (IHA) Stream 2A (feasibility)
Maximum grant value: £400,000
Deadline: 23rd June 2022
This Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) fund is intended to help applicants explore how systems would need to be designed to allow industrial applications to switch to hydrogen as a fuel, including technical requirements and costs. Applicants do not need match funding. Winners will be entitled to apply for demonstration grant funding under Stream 2B.
3.
Grant: NZIP Proposed Industrial Hydrogen Accelerator (IHA) Stream 2B (demonstration)
Maximum grant value: £7million
Deadline: TBC but expected December 2022
This stream of the NZIP IHA grant is for demonstration and Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) projects where industrial applications are switched to hydrogen fuel. Applicants will need to have won the Stream 2A grant and have completed their feasibility studies. Winners will need to provide match funding.
4.
Grant: NZIP Industrial Fuel Switching (IFS) Phase 2 (demonstration)
Maximum grant value: £6million
Deadline: TBC but applications open autumn 2022
This is another competition that will help industry switch to low-carbon fuels but it’s not just restricted to hydrogen. Applicants will use awards worth between £1m and £6m from the £55m NZIP IFS fund to work on pre-commercial technologies that enable industrial fuel switching to take place, and this extends to hydrogen, electrification, biomass and other net zero compatible fuels. Awards will be provided through Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) contracts. Applicants do not need to have previously secured funding through the Phase 1 feasibility stage of the IFS competition, and don’t need to provide match funding either. Projects must be finished by 31st December 2024.
5.
Grant: Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF) Phase 3
Maximum grant value: £30million
Deadline: TBC
This grant, designed to help businesses transition to a low carbon future, is aimed at businesses in the mining/quarrying, data centre, manufacturing and recycling industries. The minimum award is £30,000 but grants can run into the millions. Applicants can use it for three types of project:
6.
Grant: Net Zero Hydrogen Fund (NZHF)
Maximum grant value: £15million (Strand 1) and £30million (Strand 2)
Deadline: 22nd June 2022 for Strand 1, 6th July 2022 for Strand 2
There are two strands to this competition. The first supports the development of low carbon hydrogen production while the second supports the permanent deployment of a pipeline of such projects across the UK by helping businesses take financial investment decisions.
Two further strands — which sit under the BEIS Net Zero Hydrogen Fund and Hydrogen Business Model fund — aren’t yet open. Strand 3 will support electrolytic hydrogen projects in making investment commitments to deploy at scale. Strand 4 will support hydrogen projects that perform Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS).
7.
Grant: Breakthrough Energy Catalyst (BEC)
Maximum grant value: Unlimited
Deadline: Ongoing
Bill Gates and the UK Government pledged approximately £200million each to this funding stream in 2021. It is a 10-year partnership designed to speed up the commercialisation of technologies capable of reducing fossil fuel dependency. Eligible projects include low carbon hydrogen production, Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), Direct Air Capture (DAC) of greenhouse gases using industrial processes and long-duration energy storage. Any award can constitute the match funding businesses need for other grant awards.
8.
Grant: Smart Grants
Maximum grant value: £2million
Deadline: 27th July 2022
SMART grants are aimed at UK-registered organisations developing disruptive, business-focused and commercially-viable R&D projects. These can be new products, processes or services in any sector, including net zero. However, as of this latest funding round, applicants must be targeting fast commercialisation, growth and exports.
9.
Grant: Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) Round 2
Maximum grant value: £150,000 (discovery phase), £500,000 (development phase)
Deadline: TBC, applications open September 2022
This fund, created by Ofgem and Innovate UK, aims to support innovators working with energy companies to accelerate the transition to net zero. Applicants can bid for £150,000 as part of an initial discovery phase, which will allow them to develop their ideas for solutions in four key areas including making preparations for a net zero power system and accelerating decarbonisation of major heat and transport energy demands. After the discovery phase, the projects with the most potential will receive up to £500,000 to develop their ideas further. A subsequent competition will decide which projects receive further funding to build large-scale demonstrations of their technology.
10.
Grant: Energy Catalyst Round 9 – Early, Mid and Late Stage
Maximum grant value: £50,000 up to £5m
Deadline: 10th August 2022 (for Mid Stage)
Innovate UK — working with the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) — will invest up to £20 million in projects that accelerate clean energy access in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia or Indo-Pacific regions.
Get in contact with Karen Taylor, Catax’s Group Head of Grants, at karen.taylor@catax.com.