Large-scale calls

The Innovation Fund’s 3^rd call for large-scale projects aimed to further support the EU’s independence from Russian fossil fuels, as set out in the REPowerEU plan.

Timeline

We received 239 applications. We selected 41 projects for grant agreement preparation, covering a wide range of sectors to decarbonise Europe's industry and energy. The total grants amount to more than €3.6 billion and support projects aiming to bring innovative technologies to the market in energy-intensive industries, hydrogen, renewable energy, and manufacturing components for energy storage and renewables.

With a budget of €3 billion thanks to revenues from the auctioning of EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) allowances, this call covered 4 topics, 3 of which were part of REPowerEU:

• Innovative electrification in industry and hydrogen - budget: €1 billion
• Clean tech manufacturing (supporting manufacturing of components and final equipment such as electrolysers and fuel cells, innovative renewable equipment, energy storage or heat pumps) - budget: €700 million
• Mid-sized pilots (projects for validating, testing and optimising highly innovative solutions) - budget: €300 million
• General decarbonisation (available to all projects eligible for the Innovation Fund except for those which fall under dedicated REPowerEU topics) - budget: €1 billion.

Prior to the call, we consulted stakeholders on the scoping of the topics. We also conducted a survey to gauge the industry’s interest in and readiness to apply for funding for clean-tech manufacturing and mid-sized pilots via the Innovation Fund. See the outcome of the consultations and survey.

With a budget of €1.5 billion, the 2^nd call for large-scale projects aimed to finance breakthrough technologies for renewable energy, energy-intensive industries, energy storage, and carbon capture, use and storage.

We received 139 applications. They were evaluated by external evaluators against the award criteria: potential for greenhouse gases (GHG) emission avoidance, degree of innovation, project maturity, scalability, and cost efficiency.

We selected 17 projects for grant agreement preparation, covering a wide range of relevant sectors to decarbonise different parts of Europe's industry and energy sectors.

The total grants amounted to more than €1.8 billion and provided support to projects aiming to bring breakthrough technologies to the market in energy-intensive industries, hydrogen, renewable energy, carbon capture and storage infrastructure, and manufacturing of key components for energy storage and renewables.

Two projects did not successfully complete the grant agreement process, which allowed us to invite a project from the reserve list. Eventually, 16 projects were awarded grants, which they signed on 19 January 2023.

Rejected proposals which met minimum requirements and had the strongest potential to improve their maturity were offered Project Development Assistance (PDA) by the European Investment Bank (EIB).

• List of projects awarded PDA.

The 1^st call for large-scale projects had a budget of €1 billion for breakthrough technologies in renewable energy, energy-intensive industries, energy storage, and carbon capture, use and storage.

It received 311 applications, promising to reduce around 1.2 billion tonnes of CO₂ during their operating period. Further analysis shows the technologies employed in these projects.

Proposals fulfilling the admissibility and eligibility conditions were assessed against the 1^st stage award criteria by independent external evaluators. The best-ranked 70 applicants were invited to submit full project proposals for the 2^nd stage of the call. We then received 66 applications which were evaluated by external evaluators against the 5 Innovation Fund award criteria: potential for GHG emission avoidance, degree of innovation, project maturity, scalability and cost efficiency.

7 projects were selected for funding. They cover a wide range of relevant sectors to decarbonise different parts of Europe's industry and energy sectors, such as chemicals, steel, cement, refineries, and power and heat.

Rejected proposals which met some minimum requirements and had the strongest potential to improve their maturity were offered PDA provided by the EIB. 15 large-scale projects were selected to receive PDA for the 1st call (see PDA award decision and annex). The support, provided as a tailor-made technical assistance by the EIB, aimed to advance the projects’ financial, technical or operational maturity, with a view to potentially re-applying for future Innovation Fund calls.

Following the 1^st calls for large-scale and small-scale projects, we published best practices for applicants and calls key statistics.

For more information about awarded projects, have a look at our Innovation Fund projects factsheets.

To review the previous calls’ texts and documentation, you may visit the Funding and Tenders Portal. All award decisions are available on our Legal framework page.

More information is also available on our executive agency website, European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA).