Wind energy related project calls open under the Horizon Europe Work Programme:
Opening date: 26 May 2022. Deadline for applications: 27 October 2022:
- Digital solutions for defining synergies in international renewable energy value chains.
- Renewable energy carriers from variable renewable electricity surplus and carbon emissions from energy consuming sectors.
- Direct renewable energy integration into process energy demands of the chemical industry.
The third call for projects under the Innovation Fund will open in November 2022 with a deadline for applications in March 2023. The call will include a window for manufacturing renewables, and there will be specific windows for hydrogen, storage, and CCS projects.
WindEurope, together with all other European renewable energy associations, is preparing recommendations for the European Commission on how to improve the evaluation framework of projects for renewables under the Innovation Fund.
Are you submitting a project under the large-scale project call? Be sure to get in touch with us to share your views on howto boost your project’s chances of success in our advice to the European Commission.
Workshops on the lessons learnt from the2nd large-scale call for projects will be held on 29 November, and the ‘Info Days’ event on the Innovation Fund will take place on 30 November. Registration will open in the coming months via this page.
For more info, get in touch with Iván Pineda.
On 19 and 20 September the European Commission resumed the PCI (Projects of Common Interest) Energy Days, a policy conference and exhibition looking at the practical implementation of Projects of Common Interest (PCIs). The third edition of this event took place in Brussels, but the recording of the event was webstreamed on YouTube.
Project promoters showcased their projects and recalled their experience of how best to accelerate the development and deployment of key PCIs.
The current list of projects (the 5th PCI list) features 67 electricity projects, 20 for gas, 6 for cross border CO2 transport and storage and 5 for smart grids. A 6th list of PCIs will be drafted in the autumn under the revised rules of the Trans-European Energy Networks Regulation (TEN-E) which have recently entered into force.
For more information, contact Iván Pineda.
European Research and Innovation Days is the European Commission’s annual flagship Research and Innovation event, bringing together policymakers, researchers, entrepreneurs and the public to discuss and shape the future of research and innovation in Europe and beyond.
The event will take place online on 28 and 29 September 2022, giving anyone interested the chance to get involved from anywhere. The conference programme is now available and participants can register here– and stay tuned for more news und updates.
For more information, contact Nina Mavrogeorgou.
Connecting Europe Facility
The European Commission has established the first list of renewable energy cross-border (CB RES (Renewable Energy Sources)) projects under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).
CB RES projects aim to promote cross-border cooperation between Member States (and between Member States and non-EU countries) in the field of planning, development and cost-effective exploitation of renewable energy sources.
This first list includes three projects, relevant for a total of seven Member States. These include a hybrid offshore wind park between Estonia and Latvia, a cross-border district heating grid based on RES between Germany and Poland, and a project to produce renewable electricity in Italy, Spain and Germany for the conversion, transport and use of green hydrogen in the Netherlands and Germany.
By acquiring the official CB RES status, projects are now eligible for financial support for studies and works under the CEF Programme.
The ELWIND project is an offshore wind project, involving Estonia and Latvia, featuring a hybrid grid connection with interconnector and transmission lines connecting the two countries and aiming at an annual renewable electricity output of about 3 to 3.5 TWh per year. The plan is to build two offshore wind parks, one in Estonian and one in Latvian waters. The ultimate aims are to pilot a cross-border hybrid project concept in the Baltic Sea for replication in other locations, and to improve the security of supply in the region.
Overview of EU funding programmes relevant for financing offshore renewable energy projects.
The European Commission has launched an overview of EU funding programmes relevant to financing offshore renewable energy projects. For each programme listed, information is also available on eligible investments, previously funded offshore projects and how different EU programmes can be combined.
The overview can be accessed through this link.
Official date to be announced! In October, WindEurope will organise a webinar together with the European Commission for project promoters to learn more about the different funding programmes.
If you are interested in attending or want to know more, contact Nina Mavrogeorgou.
The Clean Energy Transition Partnership
The Clean Energy Transition Partnership (CETPartnership) is a co-funded partnership between the European Union and European Member States and Associated Countries. It brings together 50 national and regional research, development, and innovation (RDI) programmes aimed at boosting and accelerating the clean energy transition.
From 2021 to 2027, the CETPartnership will publish annual joint calls for projects worth around €100-130m per year. These calls are defined based on a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda with input from more than 200 experts.
On 14 September, the CETPartnership launched their first annual joint call with an estimated budget of around €100m, and organised along seven Transition Initiatives (TRIs)
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TRI 1 Integrated Net-zero-emissions Energy System Call Modules
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TRI 2: Enhanced zero emission Power Technologies
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TRI 3: Enabling Climate Neutrality with Storage Technologies, Renewable Fuels and CCU/CCS
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TRI 4: Efficient zero emission Heating and Cooling Solutions
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TRI 5 Integrated Regional Energy Systems Call Module
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TRI 6: Integrated Industrial Energy Systems
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TRI 7: Integration in the Built Environment
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Under the TRI 2, two calls are particularly relevant for wind energy technologies:
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Advancing RE (Renewable Energy) technologies for power production through cost reduction: relevant topics could include novel wind turbine system design, optimisation, scale-up and increased lifetime of onshore and offshore wind turbines, technologies, and systems for the cost-efficient repowering of existing wind farms.
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Breakthrough R&D to increase RE power technologies efficiency: relevant topics could include improving the understanding of atmospheric and wind power plant flow physics for designing novel wind turbine systems.
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The call is suited for projects aiming for solutions with medium to high TRLs (Technology Readiness Level) (6-8) combining technological development, market-related solutions, and stakeholder involvement.
The deadline to submit pre-proposals is 23 November. More information can be found here.
The Corewind project offers disruptive and cost-effective solutions for floating offshore wind technology, bringing costs down to less than 100€/MWh. This innovative project is developing research, modelling and optimisation for concrete-based semi-submersible and spar floating structure concepts.
In August 2022, the project carried out a survey on the levelised cost of energy from floating offshore wind to validate its modelling, and held an expert workshop to discuss its findings with industry experts.
The survey showed that there are no design and manufacturing limits for very large foundations. It also showed that the installation and maintenance of moorings and the design of the electrical connection have the highest impact on cost at wind farm level. It observed that companies carry out predictive maintenance regularly and, and that the use of new techniques like self-hoisting cranes, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) need more standard designs for wider adoption.
You can read a summary of the survey here. COREWIND has also published an updated flyer with the main results achieved so far in the project.
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For more information, visit our website or contact Lizet Ramírez.
About Corewind: The COREWIND project provides disruptive and cost-effective solutions for floating offshore wind technology leading to cost reduction. It is developing innovative research, modelling and optimisation for concrete-based floating substructure concepts.
On 20 September, ETIPWind elected a new Steering Committee ahead of the kick-off for its next cycle of activities from 2022-2025. The Steering Committee consists of 36 experts and one observer, including 23 industry representatives and 14 research representatives.
Adrian Timbus from Hitachi Energy, Head of Portfolio and Strategic Marketing, will continue to chair the platform while Jacob Edmonds, Head of Innovation in Ørsted, and Susanne Nies, General Manager Germany in Smart Wires were elected as Vice Chairs.
ETIPWind will provide expert advice to the European Commission on the research, technology and innovation priorities in the wind energy sector.
One of the next steps for the platform will be to update its Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda (SRIA), inputting the Horizon Europe Work Programme for 2025. It will also prepare recommendations for National Governments as they revise their National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) next year.
ETIPWind will be hosting a high-level event in Brussels on 13 October 2022 (from 9:00-14:30 CEST).
The event will be hybrid and registrations are open here. For more information, contact Capucine Vannoorenberghe.
4 October 2022 – 10:00 am CET
On 4 October the European Commission will run a workshop to explore the exchange of information, synergies and clustering between offshore renewable energy projects, funded by both the EMFF/EMFAF and other funding programmes. Its main goal is to establish a framework to foster information exchange, networking and cooperation across projects and beneficiaries.
The workshop will showcase success stories, information and funding options for project coordinators to consider, with the objective of establishing synergies and stimulating potential cooperation in the field of offshore renewable energy.
The EMFF has funded 14 projects dealing with offshore renewable energy.
Further, one more project, ESENSE, while not primarily focusing on energy, deals with survey, inspection, maintenance and repair of offshore infrastructure, including renewable energy facilities.
Based on the experience thus far, it seems that not all EMFF-project beneficiaries are determined to seek cooperation with other projects. In fact, carrying out projects in silos is far from ideal in terms of advancing the blue economy and achieving the sea-basin strategies objectives. However, previous experience has shown that there is ample room for cooperation between project beneficiaries.
The workshop will take place online on 4 October 2022 from 10:00 to 13:00 CEST. An agenda and a link to join will be shared with registered participants closer to that date.
You can register here: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/maritimeforum/en/node/7330.
Contact: Nina Mavrogeorgou
The READY4DC Project, supported by Horizon Europe, will create and engage a community of experts to assess and give recommendations on the major technical and legal aspects of designing and building an interoperable multi-vendor DC (Direct Current) grid. One major objective will be to lay the groundwork for the development of the first multi-terminal, multi-vendor HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) (High Voltage Direct Current) project in Europe.
On 13 July the project partners welcomed more than 90 participants to an online event to present the project, its objectives and the progress achieved since the project was launched.
To access the recording of the event anddownload the presentation, click this link. On 19 and 20 September partners of READY4C exhibited at the PCI Energy Days event in Brussels. Details here. To get the latest news on the project you can subscribe to the mailing list by clicking here.
And to subscribe to the expert working groups of the project, please contact: Maria Kotofolou.
Legal notice: The views represented in this newsletter are those of its authors and do not represent the views or official position of the European Commission.
