The UK Government has awarded £19 million to British green technology companies to help the UK meet its net zero ambitions.
A total of 37 companies, including small and medium sized enterprises and start-ups will receive a share of the funding from the Energy Entrepreneurs Fund
The fund is part of the government’s £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, which is seeking to accelerate the commercialisation of low-carbon technologies and systems as it seeks to meet its 2050 net zero target.
The government said the projects will increase energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions and help to produce clean energy. Winning projects include Cornwall-based Inductive Power Projection, which will use its £444,080 funding to develop technology to inspect and maintain offshore wind farms; Build Solar, which was awarded £271,933 to develop low-cost glass brick designed to collect solar energy; and Clearwell Technology, which received £223,872 to design a thermal pipe milling tool for well plugging.
Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero, 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.”
The government is also set to launch a £5 million Local Industrial Decarbonation Plans competition later this year. 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, these ‘local industrial clusters’ will develop coordinated and collaborative decarbonisation plans to help move towards a low-carbon future.
Shapps added: “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.”
