You may recall that in the MNM of 20^th February, I provided an update on H2020 (including a general background, the ‘Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy’ theme, overall budgets, the status of 2017 Calls, types of Actions, funding rates, etc.).  In that ‘piece’, we also indicated the early-stage thinking across the 28 EU Member States concerning the set of actions that might be taken forward in an Energy work programme for 2018-19 and also 2020 (the last year of H2020) and that the early Calls under the finalised work programme could be open for proposals from the Autumn of this year.

Well, these pan-EU consultations have moved forward considerably since February.  The focus area under the Energy theme for 2018-2020 looks likely to be ‘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 will indicate this focus area, will 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’), likely addressing the following seven ‘elements’:

• Energy efficiency
• Global leadership in renewables
• Smart and clean energy for consumers
• Smart, citizen-centered energy system
• Smart cities and communities
• Enabling near-zero CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel power plants and carbon intensive industries
• Joint actions and public partnerships (public funding among countries and regions in Europe and beyond).

The element likely to be of direct relevance to IFRF members, i.e. the ‘Enabling near-zero CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel power plants and carbon intensive industries’ (NZE) element, now has the following probable five Actions under consideration for 2018-2019/20, with the likely year and timing of the specific Call, the type of Action and the indicative range of total EC funding indicated in brackets:

1. Advanced capture technologies [2018; Call opening May and closing September 2018; Research & Innovation Action; €5-10m total EC funding]
2. Conversion of captured CO₂[2018, Call opening May and closing September 2018; Research & Innovation Action; €3-4m total EC funding]
3. Strategic planning for carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) [2018, Call opening May and closing September 2018; Coordination & Support Action; €2-3m total EC funding]
4. Integrated solutions for flexible operation of fossil fuel power plants through ‘power-to-x’ and/or energy storage [2019, Call opening May and closing August 2019; Innovation Action; €3-7m total EC funding]
5. Low-carbon industrial production using CCUS [2019/20, Call opening May and closing August 2019; Innovation Action; €10-12m total EC funding]

Furthermore, an indicative topic of ‘Geological storage pilots’ has been identified for the NZE element of the 2020 work programme.

The 2018-2019/20 H2020 Energy Calls for Proposals, including the specific NZE Calls above, are expected to be ‘launched’ in October.  

If this has whetted your appetite to know more, Information Days on the new Energy Calls will be held on 23^rd and 25^th October in Brussels.  Registration will open in September.  More information can be found here. 

The Information Days will be broadcast online and recorded so you will be able to access the information even if you are unable to attend the event.  A Brokerage Event will be held in conjunction with the Information Days on 24^th October in Brussels, providing an opportunity to arrange bi-lateral meetings with organisations from across Europe – you can upload your organisation profile, review those of others and arrange meetings on the event website from 21^st August here.

As Calls of interest are announced by the EC, we will bring them to your attention through the MNM.