Apply for TechX Clean Energy Accelerator Programme (United Kingdom)

Focus Areas

• CCUS & methane capture
  • Capture of greenhouse gases
    • Greenhouse gas capture – including direct air carbon capture, direct ocean capture, and point source capture of CO2 and methane
    • Flaring and venting mitigation, and fugitive emissions reductions
  • Infrastructure to store and transport greenhouse gases
    • Carbon transport and storage – including efficiencies in the carbon dioxide value chain
    • Digital technologies – these include AI enabled solutions; measurement; monitoring and verification for carbon removal including carbon storage in nature-based solutions (e.g. enhanced rock weathering); metering; data systems; sensors; methane leak detection and mitigation
  • Usage of greenhouse gases
    • Utilisation technologies – including mineralisation, conversion to synthetic fuels, food and drink applications, and long duration storage such as building materials, chemicals
• Low carbon hydrogen
  • Production of low-carbon hydrogen
    • Production of zero or low carbon hydrogen – including novel electrolysers and membranes, and improved catalysts; natural hydrogen production
  • Infrastructure to store and transport hydrogen
    • Hydrogen transportation and storage – including novel valves, and novel offshore & subsea storage technologies
    • Digital technologies – including AI enabled solutions, measurement, metering, digital twins, and data systems
  • Use of hydrogen
    • Utilisation of zero or low carbon hydrogen to replace fossil fuels – including fuel cells for power, combustion turbines, and combined heat and power systems, but excluding transport applications
• Alternative fuels
  • Production of alternative fuels and low-carbon chemicals
    • Production of e-fuels and sustainable fuels (for aviation, maritime and heavy goods road transport applications)
    • Production of power-to-X, and of low-carbon ammonia, methanol and chemicals
    • Low carbon sources of key metals and minerals for the transition (e.g. battery metals), including deep sea
  • Infrastructure to store and transport alternative fuels
    • Transportation and storage technologies for alternative fuels and low carbon chemicals
    • Digital technologies – including AI enabled solutions, measurement, metering, digital twins, and data systems
  • Use of alternative fuels
    • Utilisation technologies – including retrofitted or redesigned power turbines; and low carbon power trains for transport applications, but excluding passenger road vehicles
• Renewable energy
  • Generation of renewable energy
    • Renewable power technologies – including offshore (floating/fixed) and onshore wind, wave and tidal, floating solar and photovoltaic solar
    • Offshore and onshore geothermal – including reuse of existing wells and the technologies required to do this (e.g. self-sealing cement), and extraction of key metals and minerals from geothermal brine
    • Other renewable heating and cooling technologies – including decarbonised industrial and process heat generation, heat storage, decarbonised industrial cooling, use of waste heat, and solar thermal
  • Infrastructure for transporting renewable energy
    • Network infrastructure – including transmission and distribution network technologies, both onshore and offshore
    • Digital technologies – including AI enabled solutions, ocean data handling, sensors, digital twins, satellite imagery and telemetry, robotics (including subsea), unmanned vessels, novel drones, and distributed ledger technologies
  • Storage of energy
    • Storage technologies – including batteries, subsea batteries, flywheel and mechanical storage, thermal storage, and gravitational storage

Funding Information

• Up to £50k grant per company
• 10 companies selected per cohort
• 18 week programme, held from 3 February ’25 to 5 June’25
• Participants cannot be sole founders. We suggest the programme workload is shared

Eligibility Criteria

• Have a novel technology within scope
  • Applicants must be developing a novel clean energy technology which is fully owned by the start-up.
• Be pre-commercial, TRL 3-6
  • The technology that the applicant company is applying with must be at a technology readiness level (TRL) of between 3 (experimental proof of concept) and 6 (technology prototype demonstrated in a relevant environment). You can still apply if your company has other technologies that are at a higher TRL, but the technology you apply with must be TRL 3-6.
• Create impact
  • All technologies accepted to the programme need to have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. TechX focuses on technologies with industrial applications. Technologies solely with commercial or residential applications are out of scope.
• Actively participate & demonstrate commitment
  • All start-ups must commit to actively participating in the programme for the full 18 weeks with at least one member of the team attending all required sessions and meetings. This will include travelling to the UK for four in-person weeks, participating in regular online workshops based on a GMT time zone, and being available from Monday to Thursday for the full programme.
• Deploy in the UK
  • All start-ups must have ambitions to deploy their technologies or create economic impact in the North East of Scotland and the wider UK. The programme accepts start-ups from around the world, but they will need to set up a UK company and articulate how they plan to benefit the UK.
• Be eligible for funding
  • All start-ups must meet the requirements under the UK Subsidy Control Act (2022) to be able to claim funding. The TechX funding of £50k must not result in the company exceeding the Minimal Financial Assistance threshold over the last 3-year period.
• Have not applied to TechX more than three times
  • Start-ups must not have applied to the TechX Accelerator more than three times with the same technology.

For more information, visit Net Zero Technology Centre.