Innovation Fund Stakeholder Workshop: Funding opportunities for renewable fuels and bioenergy

12 September 2019, 11.00 – 16:30  

European Commission, DG RTD, Rue du Champ de Mars 21 (CDMA), Brussels

The Innovation Fund Stakeholder Workshop on Renewable Fuels and Bioenergy was collaboratively organised by ETIP Bioenergy, the ART Fuels Forum, ETIP Renewable Heating and Cooling and Bioenergy Europe on 12 September 2019 in Brussels. The workshop aimed to collect project ideas from the renewable fuel/biofuel and bioenergy sectors and to discuss key sector-specific issues with regard to the selection and management of projects. The one-day workshop started with presentations from the European Commission DG RTD&DG Clima, and the European Investment Bank (EIB), which put the Innovation Fund in the European research & innovation landscape, presented the key issues for the first Innovation Fund Call and lessons learnt from the predecessor programme, NER300. Then in total 16 companies from the renewable fuel and bioenergy sector presented project ideas that comprised the basic features of the projects, such as the innovative technology and final products, its technological readiness level, expected GHG emission reductions and project development timeline. The agenda can be found at the end of the document. Presentations, conclusions and the list of participants will be available on this website shortly: https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/innovation-fund_en#tab-0-2

Patrik Klintbom, chair of the ETIP Bioenergy, opened the workshop and remarked the importance of the Innovation Fund for ETIP Bioenergy as a potentially important funding source for upscaling innovative renewable fuels and bioenergy technologies. Further, it is targeted towards industry – the key stakeholder group for ETIP Bioenergy – and it is complementary to other funding programmes and strategies with ETIP Bioenergy involvement, such as SET-Plan IWG Action 8 Renewable fuels and bioenergy.

Maria Georgiadou, DG RTD, presented about the synergies between H2020 and the Innovation Fund. Different possibilities of financing programmes for the energy sector in the EU were demonstrated. Aspects on how bioenergy can contribute in the best way to EU Energy and Climate targets in 2050 and to the Sustainable Development Goals were addressed in the presentation as well as objectives of the Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan).

Christian Holzleitner, DG CLIMA, presented the Innovation Fund in detail. From 2020 to 2030, the Innovation Fund will amount to approx. 10 billion EUR, depending on the carbon price, which will be provided by the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). The Innovation Fund focuses on innovative low-carbon technologies and processes in energy intensive industries, CCU, CCS, innovative renewable energy generation and energy storage. The first call is expected to be launched in 2020 with a volume of 1 to 1.5 billion EUR. Discussions and suggestions about the design for the first call are one of the key concerns that DG CLIMA is aiming for with the series of workshops around the Innovation Fund. By covering up to 60% of the additional capital and operational costs of innovation, the Innovation Fund de-risks projects to invest in innovative technologies. By February 2020, criteria to identify the maturity of a project shall be set up.

The workshop continued with the presentation on the lessons learned from the NER 300 programme by Roland Schulze from the European Investment Bank (EIB), with the presentations of the 16 companies in two sessions on renewable fuels/biofuels and bioenergy and with the discussion moderated by Lars Waldheim from Waldheim Consulting (representing ETIP-Bioenergy in the DG CLIMA preparation group for the Innovation Fund) on the key issues related to the preparation for the first Innovation Fund Call.

Following the discussion sessions, Theodor Goumas from the ART Fuels Forum presented the Forum and raised some questions in view of the Innovation Fund that should be clarified in advance of the first call. Among other things, clarification is needed on the issues how “innovation” will be measured, how innovative low-carbon technologies can verify their contribution to GHG reduction and receive fair treatment or how the simplified application procedure for small-scale projects will look like.

Patrik Klintbom concluded the workshop and thanked everyone for a very interesting and fruitful discussion. In his closing words, he pointed out to the significance that biofuels will also have in the future in the heavy duty and aviation sectors.

AGENDA