24 October 2024:

Yesterday, the European Commission selected 85 innovative net-zero projects to receive €4.8 billion in grants from the Innovation Fund, supporting the implementation of cutting-edge clean technologies across Europe. Among these is a project featuring a hybrid energy storage system that combines lithium-ion and vanadium flow batteries, directly linked to a large-scale solar PV farm! 

The selected projects are expected to commence operations before 2030 and, over their first ten years, are projected to reduce emissions by approximately 476 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. The project involving flow batteries will be located in France, and more information will be provided soon. 

Read more information here. 

The EU ETS Innovation Fund 
The EU ETS Innovation Fund is one of the world’s largest funding programmes for the deployment of net-zero and innovative technologies. Resources for projects are drawn from the EU Emissions Trading System, which is expected to allocate €40 billion between 2020 and 2030. 

In the last call for proposals, the Innovation Fund received 337 project applications, of which 283 were deemed eligible and admissible for evaluation. A total of 149 projects were awarded the STEP Seal (EU quality label), and 85 projects were selected for the grant. 

What is the STEP Seal (EU quality label)? 
It is an EU quality label awarded to high-quality projects that have applied for EU funding under existing programmes and were recognised as providing great value, but did not receive a grant due to limited programme resources. 

This label will enhance projects visibility and help attract alternative or additional public and private investments. For example, Member States can directly grant support from Cohesion Policy funds to projects that have been awarded a STEP Seal, without any additional selection procedures. 

Additionally, these projects will be promoted on the STEP Portal, providing them with further visibility to investors and potentially attracting public and private funding by certifying their quality. 

When is the next call? 
The Commission will launch the next call for proposals under the Innovation Fund in early December 2024.