• Horizon 2020 Research & Innovation Programme and Energy Call Information Days update

    Date posted:

    • Post Author

      Philip Sharman

      IFRF Director

During 2017, we have been keeping you up-to-date via Monday Night Mails on the development of the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Research & Innovation Programme (H2020) draft Energy work programme for 2018-2020 (the last three years of H2020) – see MNMs of 20th February (for general background, overall budgets, types of ‘Actions’, funding rates, etc. – here)  and 21st August (for draft elements within the Energy Theme and emerging details of possible Calls – here).

As we anticipated, the EC launched the Work Programme just prior to the Information Days on 23rd-25th October.

The focus area under the Energy theme for 2018-2020 is, as we indicated, ‘Building a low-carbon, climate-resilient future’ to stimulate the development of solutions capable of achieving carbon-neutrality and climate resilience by 2050.  The Calls, the title of which indicate this focus area, underpin the goals of the COP21 Paris Climate Agreement and the EC’s ‘Clean Energy for all Europeans’ Package (including the ‘Accelerating Clean Energy Innovation’ Communication’), and address the following (now eight) ‘elements’:

  • Energy efficiency
  • Global leadership in renewables;
  • Smart and clean energy for consumers;
  • Smart, citizen-centred energy system;
  • Smart cities and communities;
  • Enabling near-zero CO2 emissions from fossil fuel power plants and carbon intensive industries;
  • Joint actions (public funding among countries and regions in Europe and beyond); and (newly)
  • Cross-cutting issues (social sciences/humanities aspects, modelling, databases, etc.).

Probably, the element that is of the most relevance to IFRF members, i.e. the ‘Enabling near-zero CO2 emissions from fossil fuel power plants and carbon intensive industries’ (NZE) element.  This element has the following six Actions under consideration for the 2018-2020 timeframe, with the year and timing of the specific Call, the type of Action and the indicative range of total EC funding indicated in brackets:

  1. Call LC-SC3-NZE-1-2018:  Advanced CO2 capture technologies[Call opening 15th May 2018 and closing 6th September 2018; Research & Innovation Action (with up to a maximum of 100% funding available); €5-10m per project; €20m total EC funding available; 2-4 projects likely to be funded]
  2. Call LC-SC3-NZE-2-2018:  Conversion of captured CO2[Call opening 15th May 2018 and closing 6th September 2018; Research & Innovation Action (up to 100% funding available); €3-4m per project;  €12m total EC funding available; 3-4 pilot projects likely to be funded]
  3. Call LC-SC3-NZE-3-2018:  Strategic planning for carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS)[Call opening 15th May and closing 6th September 2018; Coordination & Support Action (up to 100% funding available); €2-3m per project; €3m total EC funding; 1-2 projects likely to be funded]
  4. Call LC-SC3-NZE-4-2019:  Integrated solutions for flexible operation of fossil fuel power plants through ‘power-to-x-to power’ and/or energy storage[Call opening 7th May 2019 and closing 27th August 2019; Innovation Action (up to 70% funding available); €3-4m per project; €20m total EC funding available; 5-7 projects likely to be funded]
  5. Call LC-SC3-NZE-5-2019-20:  Low-carbon industrial production using CCUS[Call opening 7th May 2019 and closing 27th August 2020; Innovation Action (up to 70% funding available); €10-12m per project; €33m total EC funding available in 2019, to be topped-up in 2020]
  6. Call LC-SC3-NZE-6-2020:  Geological storage pilots in different settings[no further details yet regarding timing, type of Action, maximum funding rate, or indicative budget].

The detailed Work Programme document has been ‘pre-published’ by the EC (with caveats concerning its adoption and endorsement), but providing a wealth of further information on these different Calls (and others in the other ‘elements’ above).  This document can be downloaded here

The Information Days on the new Energy Calls were held 23rd and 25th October in Brussels and were significantly over-subscribed.  If you didn’t register, or found then fully-booked by the time you tried to register, we are pleased to report that all the various sessions were recorded, and the one on the NZE Calls, which included a very helpful presentation from Jeroen Schuppers of DG Research & Innovation and an informative Q&A session, can be found here.

As these various individual NZE Calls open for proposals, we will bring them to your attention through the MNM and alert you of any collaboration opportunities that we become aware of.