Recently INEA launched a call for proposals for EU grants in the field of demonstration of innovative low carbon technologies under the Innovation Fund (IF).

The objectives of this call are to:

• support projects demonstrating highly innovative technologies, processes or products, that are sufficiently mature and have a significant potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions;
• offer financial support tailored to market needs and risk profiles of eligible projects, while attracting additional public and private resources.

The following activities can be funded under this call:

• activities that support innovation in low-carbon technologies and processes in sectors listed in Annex I to the EU ETS Directive, including environmentally safe carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) that contributes substantially to mitigating climate change, as well as products substituting carbon intensive ones produced in sectors listed in Annex I to the EU ETS Directive;
• activities that help stimulate the construction and operation of projects that aim at the environmentally safe capture and geological storage of CO2(CCS);
• activities that help stimulate the construction and operation of innovative renewable energy and energy storage technologies.

Projects to be funded by this Innovation Fund call are expected to contribute to the transition to a climate-neutral economy and to achieving the policy objectives as set out in the European Green Deal.

Applicants

In order to be eligible for funding under this call, the applicants must be:

• legal persons;
• private entities, public entities, or international organizations;
• be directly responsible for the implementation and management of the project where relevant jointly with other applicants.

The minimum number of applicants is one.

Duration

Applicants should consider that the following conditions must be fulfilled in relation to the duration of their proposed actions:

• the project must reach financial close within four years after grant signature;
• the default monitoring and reporting period once the project has entered into operation is 10 years; shorter periods can be accepted by INEA based on a justification provided by the applicant.

Budget

Only projects with a total capital expenditure above EUR 7 500 000 are eligible under this call. The available budget for this call is EUR 1 000 000 000 for grants and EUR 8 000 000 for project development assistance (PDA). The grants will be provided as lump sums.

Deadline

The deadline for submitting the project proposal is 29 October 2020 at 17:00.

More information and official documentation are available here