Call for Applications: Ofgem Strategic Innovation Fund (Round 4) – UK

This competition is delivered by Innovate UK in partnership with the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem).

Scope

• You must select which challenge your Project is working on.
  • Challenge 1: Faster Network Deployment represents a greater focus from:
    • Whole System Integration
    • Preparing for a Net Zero Power System
    • Whole System Network Planning
  • Challenge 2: Greater heat flexibility represents a greater focus from:
    • Whole System Integration, Heat
    • Accelerating Decarbonisation of major demands
    • Unlocking Energy system flexibility to accelerate electrification of heat
  • Challenge 3: Embedding resilience represents a greater focus from:
    • All Challenges from Round 1
    • Three of the four challenges from Round 2 (excluding Preparing for a net zero power system)
    • Power to Gas for system flexibility
  • Challenge 4: Accelerating towards net zero energy networks represents a greater focus from:
    • Accelerating Decarbonisation of major demands. Applicants must demonstrate that the Projects deliver a net benefit to consumers through:
      • financial cost reductions, for example, operating the network, energy bills, users of network services
      • emission reduction
      • access to revenues for network users
      • introducing new products, process and services to the UK energy market
    • Your proposal must focus on network innovation that can benefit GB energy network infrastructure, consumers, operation, and utilisation.
      • You must address:
        • users and their context
        • constraints affecting the problem or wider context
        • opportunities for improvement
        • environmental impacts
    • At this stage a Project Direction will be issued for the Discovery Phase only. Successful applicants will be invited to apply for Alpha Phase.
    • The Discovery Phase of a Project will define the problem and the value in solving it. It will also facilitate a common understanding of consumers’ and network users’ needs from the innovation and identifying constraints.
    • The Alpha Phase will focus on preparing and testing solutions that are identified during the Discovery Phase, ahead of any large-scale demonstration of the Project in the Beta Phase.

Themes

• You must select the primary Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) Innovation Challenge focus theme that your project is targeting.
  • Challenge 1: Faster Network Deployment:
    • Theme 1: novel methods to increase electrical capacity from existing assets or support faster and more efficient connection methods including using digital innovations
    • Theme 2: regional balancing approaches to accelerate low carbon technology deployment
  • Challenge 2: Greater heat flexibility:
    • Theme 1: flexibility solutions to reduce peak electricity demand from heat decarbonisation
  • Challenge 3: Embedding resilience:
    • Theme 1: cross vector approaches to decarbonise rural communities in a resilient manner
    • Theme 2: transition planning for an energy system with reducing natural gas demand
  • Challenge 4: Accelerating towards net zero energy networks:
    • Theme 1: innovation to improve efficiency of network operations
• Any proposed project against the points above must also consider contributing to four key cross-cutting areas:
  • inclusive development: ensuring the solution is applicable and accessible to diverse customer and consumer segments through relevant stakeholder engagement and user centric design principles
  • skills and capability: consider throughout the project where upskilling and new capability development is needed and signalling those needs to relevant third parties like academics, training institutes and key supply chain partners
  • supply chains: assess the deliverability and scalability of the solution across the GB network from a supply chain perspective including maturity of supply chains, potential vulnerabilities such as labour requirements, logistical and environmental risks
  • data and digitalisation: harness digitalisation and implementing Energy Data Best Practice across all areas

Funding Information

• A total SIF funding of up to £30 million exclusive of VAT is allocated to the Discovery Phase across the four challenges.
• Your Discovery Phase Project must have a total requested funding of no more than £150,000, exclusive of VAT.

Eligibility Criteria

• Your Project
  • Your Project must:
    • have total eligible Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) requested funding of no more than £150,000, exclusive of VAT
    • provide a minimum of 10% of total Project costs as a compulsory contribution from alternative funds
    • start after 1 May 2025
    • end by 30 September 2025
    • be completed within the five month window
• Lead organisation
  • To lead a Discovery Phase Project, you must be an Ofgem licensed electricity or gas distribution network, transmission operator, or Electricity System Operator (ESO).
• Project partners
  • Each Discovery Phase Round 4 Challenge has specific project partner requirements in addition to the lead network licensee. The eligibility requirements for the Discovery Phase Challenges are different for each Challenge theme:
    • Challenge 1: Faster network development partner requirements:
      • Theme 1: there are no specific partner requirements
      • Theme 2: you must partner with organisations with proven experience in developing and trialling regional energy models
    • Challenge 2: Greater heat flexibility partner requirements:
      • Theme 1: there are no specific partner requirements
    • Challenge 3: Embedding resilience partner requirements:
      • Theme 1: must involve a consumer representative group relevant to rural energy development
      • Theme 2: there are no specific partner requirements
    • Challenge 4: Accelerating towards net zero energy networks partner requirements:
      • Theme 1: there are no specific partner requirements
  • You are encouraged to have other Project Partners in addition to the mandatory requirements listed above. Your Project Partners can include a variety of third-party innovators such as:
    • start-ups
    • SMEs
    • suppliers
    • academics
    • independent researchers
    • disruptors
    • other licenced energy network companies

For more information, visit Innovate UK.