UK Government Launches Innovation Program to Reach Net Zero

Decreasing the costs of decarbonisation, the Portfolio will help enable the UK to end its contribution to climate change, the government has announced.

Innovation is key to developing the green technologies needed to tackle climate change. The Net Zero Innovation Portfolio is a £1 billion fund, announced in the Prime Minister’s ten point plan for a green industrial revolution, to accelerate the "commercialisation" of low-carbon technologies, systems and business models in power, buildings, and industry.

The Portfolio will decrease the costs of decarbonisation and set the UK on the path to a low carbon future. It will create world-leading industries and new green jobs, invest in our regions, and help make the UK a science and innovation superpower.

Focussed on 10 priority areas, it includes:

• floating offshore wind
• nuclear advanced modular reactors (supported through the aligned Advanced Nuclear Fund)
• energy storage and flexibility
• bioenergy
• hydrogen
• homes
• direct air capture and greenhouse gas removal (GGR)
• advanced CCUS
• industrial fuel switching
• disruptive technologies

Funding is being made available for projects right across Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Competitions will be launching throughout 2021, with opportunities to apply offered through the individual competition pages listed below.

The Net Zero Innovation Portfolio succeeds the BEIS Energy Innovation Programme (EIP) which ran from 2015-2021.

Commenting on Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Budget announcement today, RenewableUK’s Chief Executive Hugh McNeal said: “This is a big-bang moment for offshore wind manufacturing in the UK which will drive investment in a globally competitive domestic supply chain. The Government is putting its support squarely behind the kind of strategic approach to securing supply chain investment which the industry has been making the case for during our intensive work with Ministers to deliver the green economic recovery this country needs. This new funding to develop world-class offshore wind hubs in Teesside and Humber is a clear example of levelling-up in action.  

“There is a huge opportunity for UK's offshore wind industry not only to supply UK projects but also to export to rapidly growing global markets. Today’s new funding for port upgrades and the award of new freeports represent a huge boost to our export ambitions”. 

“The next wave of renewable projects could inject £20bn of private investment into the economy and support over 12,000 jobs. Ramping up onshore and offshore wind, alongside hydrogen and other renewables, is the key to unlocking a rapid, low-cost transformation of the energy sector. We therefore welcome the new support for floating offshore wind and renewable hydrogen technologies announced today which will play a vital role in the UK’s net zero transition”.

Danielle Lane, Co-Chair of the Offshore Wind Industry Council and Vattenfall's UK Country Manager, added: “The Chancellor is right to highlight the fact that the UK needs investment in green growth and that offshore wind is an innovative industry in which we have a global competitive advantage. Our  sector is working with Government to help deliver a green industrial revolution which will benefit all parts of the country. To meet our 2030 target we need to grow our offshore wind fleet four-fold in ten years and that offers a unique opportunity to boost UK manufacturing, particularly in turbine blades, towers, foundations and power cables”.

“Our industry is attracting tens of billions of pounds in private investment in new clean energy infrastructure to deliver net zero and boost local economies throughout the UK. We want consumers and communities to feel the full benefit of offshore wind, from low-cost power to local jobs and regeneration. When we host the key UN climate change summit COP26 here in November, we'll be able to point to our global leadership in offshore wind as a prime example of how to build back greener".