€100 million for innovative cleantech projects under the Innovation Fund

The European Commission has launched the third call for small-scale cleantech projects under the Innovation Fund, the EU funding programme for the deployment of innovative low-carbon technologies.

This funding programme, implemented by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA), aims to incentivise companies and public authorities to invest in the next generation of low-carbon technologies and support Europe’s transition to climate neutrality, contributing to achieving the ambitions of the European Green Deal. In its two previous small-scale calls, the Innovation Fund selected a total of 47 projects, which were granted €171 million.

Financed by revenues from the auctioning of emission allowances from the EU’s Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), the new call will provide €100 million of grants to small-scale cleantech projects that contribute to the decarbonisation of industries. Projects must submit their applications before September 19^th 2023.

Everything you need to know about the new cleantech call

Which cleantech projects might be eligible?

In order to get granted under this call, cleantech projects must:

• Be small-scaled, with a capital expenditure between €2.5 and €7.5 million
• Work in the areas of renewable energy, decarbonisation of energy-intensive industries, energy storage, or carbon capture, use and storage.
• Address technologies should that are sufficiently mature and able to achieve significant greenhouse gas emission reductions.
• Place their implementation in any EU Member State, Iceland or Norway.

The Innovation Fund will finance up to 60% of the project’s total capital expenditure, contributing to overcoming the initial risks coming from commercialising and entering the market with such innovative technologies.

What are the main evaluation criteria?

After application, projects will be evaluated based on:

• Their potential to avoid greenhouse gas emissions
• Their degree of innovation, especially rewarding projects that advance first-of-a-kind processes
• Their financial, technical and operational maturity
• Their cost-efficiency
• Their potential for scaling up

The European Investment Bank (EIB) may provide project development assistance for up to 20 promising projects that are discarded due to insufficient maturity, preparing them for a potentially successful application in the following call of the Innovation Fund. Projects that were unsuccessful in previous calls are also encouraged to reapply.

FI Group has 20 years of experience and wants to accompany you on the new NextGenerationEU path. Our experts are at your disposal to analyse how your project fits into the NextGenerationEU European recovery fund and to take the next steps together with you. Contact us.

Marina Marcos