News story: Smart energy systems: apply for funding

UK organisations can apply for a share of up to £30 million to develop designs for smart local energy systems that make the best use of innovative technologies including cheaper renewables, energy storage, low carbon heat and digital infrastructure.

Empowering makers and innovators

Claire Perry, Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth, said:

We are at the start of a smart energy revolution, which will see technology like energy storage, smart appliances and electric vehicles become part of the fabric of everyday life. A future built on digital, data-driven smart systems will transform the way society interacts with the grid – delivering cheaper, greener and more flexible access to energy for everyone.

This competition will help to give the UK’s makers and innovators the tools to make this vision a reality, and seize on the business opportunities ahead.

The energy revolution

The competition is part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund programme, prospering from the energy revolution. The challenge was established to support industry, academia, public bodies and local communities to work together and develop a world-leading, smart local energy systems industry in the UK.

Challenge director, Rob Saunders, said:

Smart local energy systems can intelligently link supply, storage and use of power, heat and transport in new ways that dramatically improve efficiency and work better for people. This competition will seek the very best ideas in British innovation to show how the energy sector of the future will be cleaner and greener and support the jobs and industries of the future.

Creating innovative, ambitious designs

The aim of the competition is to create a pipeline of highly innovative, ambitious, local energy system designs that are investable and ready to roll out across the UK in the 2020s.

Projects will create new market and business models using smart energy systems that enable deployment at scale of the latest in energy technologies across heat, power and transport, in a way that is reproducible across the UK.

Projects are expected to:

• the competition will open on 7 May 2019, and close at midday on 7 August 2019
• UK organisations of any size can apply
• Briefings will take place in: