The government has awarded more funding than planned in the latest round of its Energy Entrepreneurs Fund. It has added £19 million to the £11 million planning for this round, awarding grants totalling £30 million to 58 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to develop and demonstrate new technologies in energy efficiency, power generation, heat generation and energy storage.
Among the companies celebrating a grant was Nova Innovation, which was awarded £800,000 to develop a low-cost, rapid turbine deployment and recovery solutionIt wants to slash the operation and maintenance costs of tidal energy in remote areas, accelerating the sector towards commercial reality. Its deployment and recovery system can be used by a wide range of vessels, including fishing boats and harbour work boats to transport turbines from the shore before being lowered into position on the seabed. It will also retrieve the turbines, making routine maintenance quicker and easier.
Energy efficiency projects receiving funding include:
• Smart Ventilation, Belfast: £524,626 to develop Think.Air, a low energy, residential ventilation system, that will use AI to improve the performance and functionality of home heating control systems
• Rotaheat, Wales: £676,560 to develop low carbon heating solutions for urban environments, using wind turbines to provide heating for homes
The 58 winning projects are listed here with previous funded projects.