SEAI National Energy Research Funding Programme – Ireland

SEAI will be central to bringing about a low carbon economy through measures and activities focused on the transition to a smarter and more sustainable energy future. To achieve this mission, SEAI will continue to build an environment for positive change through the analysis, modelling, and support for policymaking. SEAI will catalyse direct action through their design and delivery of grant and incentive programmes and through their capacity-building processes with citizens, communities, and private and public sector organisations.

Objectives

• The overarching objectives of the SEAI National Energy Research Development and Demonstration (RD&D) Funding Programme are as follows:
  • Accelerate the development and deployment in the Irish marketplace of competitive energy-related products, processes and systems;
    • Expected outcomes: The capacity of funded research to accelerate the development and deployment of new competitive energy-related products, processes and systems, will be assessed through the reporting of key outcomes including: the number of spin-off companies created or planned as a direct result of the project; new technology license agreements; EI commercialisation awards; along with the number of patent applications developed or submitted. Awardees are asked to update on these outcomes at annual and final reporting stage.
  • Support solutions that enable technical and other barriers to energy market uptake to be overcome;
    • Expected outcomes: Projects supported under the SEAI National Energy RDD Funding Programme may enable technical or other barriers to energy market update to be overcome, such as social, environmental, political or economic factors. This capacity will be assessed through the reporting of key project achievements at annual and final reporting stage, clearly highlighting how the project has furthered current state-of-the-art, current knowledge or current practice to overcome identified barriers, along with highlighting the degree of novelty, innovation and collaboration demonstrated.
  • Grow Ireland’s national capacity to access, develop and apply international class energy RD&D;
    • Expected outcomes: National research capacity will be assessed through the reporting of the number of team members involved in each project, as well as the associated level of training received and research outputs of each team member. SEAI’s expectation is that SEAI RDD awards will provide support necessary for awardees to build capacity, expertise, networks and relationships to a point where they can compete successfully for funding in Europe and to engage with international networks and collaborations including the International Energy Agency Technology Collaboration Programmes (TCPs). Equality, Diversity and inclusion considerations, including any gender dimensions within research projects, will form an important part of the reporting process. In their final report, awardees are asked to report on funding opportunities that they have pursued and won.
  • Provide guidance and support to policy makers and public bodies through results, outcomes and learning from supported projects.
    • Expected outcomes: Dissemination of research outcomes and results will be assessed through the reporting of all project-related dissemination activities at annual and final reporting stage. This includes reporting on all scientific publications as well as all other dissemination activities including publications, conferences, workshops, websites/applications, press releases etc. Engagement with policy makers and civil society will alsobe assessed. Awardees are asked to respond to an engagement questionnaire, to provide details of the levels of engagement throughout the research project with a range of stakeholders, including government, public bodies or policy makers, citizens or organised societal groups, and societal actors beyond the research and industrial community. Awardees are also asked to clearly outline if the project outputs could be used by policy makers, and if so, at what level, for example at local, national, European or international level.

Funding Information

• Small scale projects
  • Duration: Up to 12 months
  • Amount: Up to €250,000
• Medium scale projects
  • Duration: 12 to 36 months
  • Amount: Up to €750,000
• Large scale projects 
  • Duration: 36 to 48 months
  • Amount: Up to €1,250,000
• Academic fellowships 
  • Duration: 12 to 36 months
  • Amount: Up to €300,000

Eligible Projects 

• Eligible project proposals include projects that address the overarching programme objectives.
• Open Strand – The open strand of the call provides an opportunity for applicants to propose projects within SEAI’s remit which directly address the aims and objectives of the SEAI National Energy RD&D Funding Programme Call.
• Topic Strand – The topic strand of the call provides an opportunity for applicants to submit proposals that address the requirements of the topics. These topics have been developed by SEAI and relevant stakeholder organisations. In some cases, successful proposals to the topic strand of the call will be partially funded by co-funding partners.
  • Small Scale Topics
    • Review of Electric Vehicle charging technologies, beyond the traditional methods.
    • Investigating the feasibility of using grid-enhancing technologies in the Irish electricity grid.
    • Measuring the societal impacts of sustainable energy communities
    • Demonstration of Grid Forming Inverters.
  • Small/Medium Scale
    • Solutions for Decarbonising Industrial Heat
    • Unlocking the potential of efficient and renewable district heating-cooling systems
    • Insights into attitudes on use of Bioenergy and related installations (co-funded by the Dept of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)
    • Economic Viability and Market Development of Anaerobic Digestion derived products (co-
    • funded by the Dept of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)
    • Geological/subsurface storage for energy decarbonisation (co-funded by the Geological Survey Ireland)
    • Addressing sustainable supply and demand for critical raw materials in the renewable energy sector (co-funded by the Geological Survey Ireland)
  • Medium Scale Topics
    • Electrifying farm machinery and transport
    • Demonstration of Local Flexibility
    • Optimising Grid Connections for charging infrastructure
    • Energy Consumption and Thermal Comfort in Traditional Buildings
    • Innovative solutions to migration of components from fixed to floating offshore wind.
  • Large Scale Topics
    • Wind Farm Monitoring and Performance Optimisation
    • Underwater noise monitoring baseline assessment for the roll-out of offshore renewable energy (co-funded by the Marine Institute)

Eligibility Criteria

• The SEAI National Energy RD&D Funding Programme is open to public and private sector organisations based in the Republic of Ireland (including Irish subsidiaries of overseas companies) who wish to carry out projects in Ireland. Applications will be accepted from companies, 3rd level educational bodies, public sector bodies and semi-state bodies who are based in the Republic of Ireland and such organisations may apply to the Programme individually or as part of a consortium. Proposals from individuals applying in their own right will not be accepted.
• In some circumstances, the programme may support Irish entities/researchers to carry out work undertaken in other jurisdictions, where this is necessary for the completion of the project. Researchers based in other jurisdictions will not be funded by the programme and should partake in proposals in the role of (non-funded) collaborators.
• In exceptional cases, funding of work in other jurisdictions (e.g., where it is not possible for a component of work to be carried out in Ireland) may be supported where there is a demonstrable contribution to resolving issues directly relevant to Irish requirements.

For more information, visit SEAI.