European Commission – Renewable associations Co-Organised Workshop: Innovation Fund 3rd Large-Scale call

Date : 28/06/2022

The Innovation Fund is the EU’s main fund to support the demonstration of innovative low-carbon technologies.

This autumn’s ‘large-scale call’ is different – it will have a larger budget of circa €3bn and 3 focused funding windows.

2 of these windows are particularly suited for renewable energy proposals:

• Innovative clean tech manufacturing
• Mid-sized pilot projects for validating, testing and optimising highly innovative solutions

To help prepare the details of the call, the European Commission and a coalition of renewable energy associations co-organised an online workshop on 28 June, 2022.

The Commission presented its latest thinking for the call. Potential renewable energy projects from different sectors were presented at the workshop, followed by a group discussion on how the rules of the call can be tailored to reflect the characteristics of renewable energy projects.

Welcome & introduction

 

14:00 – Welcome & introduction – Donagh Cagney, Policy Director, Ocean Energy Europe

14:05 – The role of Innovation Fund in the context of the REPowerEU – Maria Velkova, Deputy Head of Unit, & Ewelina Daniel, Policy Officer, DG CLIMA European Commission

 

Focus on manufacturing projects

 

14:35 – Manufacturing project presentations – 3 projects presented

• PV – Andreas Waltinger, Team Leader of Line Processes, Meyer Burger
• Geothermal – Franco Caselli, Geothermal Exploration Director, Geolog Italy
• Wind – Alfredo Parres, Group SVP, Head of Renewables, Hitachi

14:50 – Key developments, challenges and opportunities in your sectors – 5 minute presentations from PV & geothermal, followed by questions

• Wind – Iván Pineda – Director of Innovation, Wind Europe
• PV – Naomi Chevillard, Head of Regulatory Affairs, Solar Power Europe

 

Focus on mid-sized projects

 

15:25 – Mid-sized project presentations – 6 projects presented

• PV – Bernardo Mota Veiga, Chief Strategy Execution Officer, Amarenco Group
• Wave – Sam Roch-Perks, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Simply Blue Group
• Geothermal – Robert Winsloe, Vice President Business Development (EAME), EAVOR
• Tidal – Guillaume Greau, Head of Business Development, HydroQuest
• Hydro – Jean-Louis Drommi, Electrical Expert, EDF
• Biogas – Zoltan Elek, CEO, Landwärme

16:05 – Key developments, challenges and opportunities in your sectors – 5 minute presentations from geothermal, ocean & hydro, followed by questions

• Geothermal – Phillippe Dumas, Secretary General, European Geothermal Energy Council
• Hydro – Anton Schleiss, HYDROPOWER EUROPE
• Ocean – Donagh Cagney, Policy Director, Ocean Energy Europe

 

Group Discussion

 

16:30 – Discussion of the possible challenges for the sectors on the different elements of the all for proposals (e.g., methodology to calculate and verify emissions avoidance, definition of degree of innovation, financial maturity, calculation of additional costs, etc.)

17:25 – Conclusions & Next Steps – OEE/ALL