About

The European Commission is seeking proposals for its Horizon Europe Programme for Market Uptake Measures of renewable energy systems.

Scope

• The proposal is expected to develop solutions addressing at least 2 of the expected outcomes either for the entire renewable energy market or focusing on a specific energy sector, such as electricity, heating, cooling or renewable fuels. Proposals can also address issues within a specific geographical region such as urban and peri-urban areas. Issues related to acceptability of RES technologies due to ecologic, economic and social aspects are expected to be addressed. Self-consumption issues can be addressed too. International aspects, such as collaboration with third countries and promoting solution in new markets, can be addressed as well.

• The proposed solution can be developed to address a local challenge but needs to have wide potential for reapplication. The solution is expected to have a long-term viability and not be limited to an ad-hoc fix. The methodologies applied may be inspired by successful approaches already tested in other fields or contexts.

• For all actions, the consortia have to involve relevant stakeholders (e.g. businesses, public authorities, civil society organisations) and market actors who are committed to adopting/implementing the results. The complexity of these challenges and of the related market uptake barriers may call for multi-disciplinary approaches, which requires contributions from the social sciences and humanities. Where relevant, local, regional specificities, socio-economic, gender-related, spatial and environmental aspects will be considered from a life-cycle perspective.

• Proposals are encouraged to address social acceptability through the assessment of the environmental economic and social impacts associated with the development of these renewable energies and through the adequate involvement of stakeholders in decision-making processes.

• This topic requires the effective contribution of SSH disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects for understanding and addressing societal barriers to the uptake of renewable energy systems.

• Where relevant, proposals are expected to also assess the legal, institutional, and political frameworks at local, national and European level and examine how, why and under what conditions these could act as a barrier or an enabler.

Funding Information

• The check will normally be done for the coordinator if the requested grant amount is equal to or greater than EUR 500 000, except for:

  • public bodies (entities established as a public body under national law, including local, regional or national authorities) or international organisations; and

  • cases where the individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60 000 (lowvalue grant).

Expected Outcome

• Project results are expected to contribute to at least two of the following expected outcomes:

  • Facilitate the wider uptake of renewable energy systems (RES) in the energy, industrial and residential sectors leading to an increased share of renewable energy in the final energy consumption by 2030 and beyond.

  • Contribute to provide open source validated tools and methodologies for policy makers and stakeholders for developing more informed RES policy and for analysing the market dynamics when including all renewable energies.

  • Contribute to the development of markets and respective financial frameworks that can operate in an efficiently and incentive-compatible manner while accommodating massive shares of renewables.

  • Improve social acceptability of renewable energy facilities and installations.

Eligible Activities

• Eligible activities are the ones described in the call conditions. Applications will only be considered eligible if their content corresponds, wholly or in part, to the topic description for which it is submitted.

• Projects must focus exclusively on civil applications and must not:

  • aim at human cloning for reproductive purposes;

  • intend to modify the genetic heritage of human beings which could make such changes heritable (except for research relating to cancer treatment of the gonads, which may be financed);

  • intend to create human embryos solely for the purpose of research, or for the purpose of stem cell procurement, including by means of somatic cell nuclear transfer.

• Projects must, moreover, comply with EU policy interests and priorities (environment, social, security, industrial policy, etc.).

• The following activities are generally eligible for grants under Horizon Europe:

• Research and innovation actions (RIA) — Activities that aim primarily to establish new knowledge or to explore the feasibility of a new or improved technology, product, process, service or solution. This may include basic and applied research, technology development and integration, testing, demonstration and validation of a small-scale prototype in a laboratory or simulated environment.

• Innovation actions (IA) — Activities that aim directly to produce plans and arrangements or designs for new, altered or improved products, processes or services. These activities may include prototyping, testing, demonstrating, piloting, large-scale product validation and market replication.

• Coordination and support actions (CSA) — Activities that contribute to the objectives of Horizon Europe. This excludes research and innovation (R&I) activities, except those carried out under the ‘Widening participation and spreading excellence’ component of the programme (part of ‘Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area’). Also eligible are bottom-up coordination actions which promote cooperation between legal entities from Member States and Associated Countries to strengthen the European Research Area, and which receive no EU co-funding for research activities.

• Programme co-fund actions (CoFund) — A programme of activities established or implemented by legal entities managing or funding R&I programmes, other than EU funding bodies. Such a programme of activities may support: networking and coordination; research; innovation; pilot actions; innovation and market deployment; training and mobility; awareness raising and communication; and dissemination and exploitation. It may also provide any relevant financial support, such as grants, prizes and procurement, as well as Horizon Europe blended finance30 or a combination thereof. The actions may be implemented by the beneficiaries directly or by providing financial support to third parties.

• Innovation and market deployment actions (IMDA) — Activities that embed an innovation action and other activities necessary to deploy an innovation on the market. This includes the scaling-up of companies and Horizon Europe blended finance.

• Training and mobility actions (TMA) — Activities that aim to improve the skills, knowledge and career prospects of researchers, based on mobility between countries and, if relevant, between sectors or disciplines.

• Pre-commercial procurement actions (PCP) — Activities that aim to help a transnational buyers’ group to strengthen the public procurement of research, development, validation and,  possibly, the first deployment of new solutions that can significantly improve quality and efficiency in areas of public interest, while opening market opportunities for industry and researchers active in Europe. Eligible activities include the preparation, management and follow-up, under the coordination of a lead procurer, of one joint PCP and additional activities to embed the PCP into a wider set of demand-side activities.

• Public procurement of innovative solutions actions (PPI) — Activities that aim to strengthen the ability of a transnational buyers’ group to deploy innovative solutions early by overcoming the fragmentation of demand for such solutions and sharing the risks and costs of acting as early adopters, while opening market opportunities for industry. Eligible activities include preparing and implementing, under the coordination of a lead procurer, one joint or several coordinated PPI by the buyers’ group and additional activities to embed the PPI into a wider set of demand-side activities.

Eligibility

• Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non associated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call/topic.

• To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries: 

  • The Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions:

    • Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.

  • The Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States: 

    • Aruba (NL), Bonaire (NL), Curação (NL), French Polynesia (FR), French Southern and Antarctic Territories (FR), Greenland (DK), New Caledonia (FR), Saba (NL), Saint Barthélemy (FR), Sint Eustatius (NL), Sint Maarten (NL), St. Pierre and Miquelon (FR), Wallis and Futuna Islands (FR).

  • Countries associated to Horizon Europe;

    • Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo , Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Tunisia, Türkiye, Ukraine, United Kingdom

  • The following low- and middle-income countries:

    • Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Comoros, Congo (Democratic Republic), Congo (Republic), Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt (Arab Republic), El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic), Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Korea (Democratic People's Republic), Kyrgyz Republic, Lao (People’s Democratic Republic), Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Micronesia (Federated States), Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Pakistan, Palau, Palestine , Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Samoa, São Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Suriname, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic), Vietnam, Yemen Republic, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

• Legal entities which are established in countries not listed above will be eligible for funding if provided for in the specific call/topic conditions, or if their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority.

Post Date: September 24, 2024