Thursday 28 July 2022

Green energy projects awarded millions of pounds in Ofgem funding

Ofgem has unveiled plans to invest around £8 million across 18 innovative projects, as part of the £450 million Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF).

The latest investment of SIF, which is delivered in partnership with Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will support projects that focus on clean heat, zero emission transport, data and digitalisation.

The projects have each been allocated amounts of up to £500,000 to develop their ideas.

These range from technologies for the large-scale storage of heat, to circuit breakers which will enable the increasing amounts of power from offshore wind turbines to be connected to the grid.

Other projects look at technologies that will enable the future use of hydrogen in the UK's energy system – from compression and blending of hydrogen for use in gas networks, to testing new coatings which will protect pipework from accelerated wear and tear.

Some projects also explore how weather data can be used to predict risks and faults in energy networks.

Neil Kenward, Ofgem Director for Strategy and Decarbonisation, said: "Innovation in energy is a vital part of the process of bringing down the cost for energy consumers, accelerating the decarbonisation of our energy system and reducing our dependence on costly imported fossil fuels, over time.

"We have to transform the way we travel, heat our homes, and fuel our industries, and energy networks will need to innovate accordingly."