UK offers £40m for manufacturers to plan and deploy greener technologies

THE UK Government is offering £40m (US$56m) in funding for energy-intensive companies to conduct feasibility and engineering studies, and deploy greener technologies.

The competition opens in March and is aimed at helping industries including steel, food and drink, paper, and pharmaceuticals improve processes and reduce their carbon emissions.

The Government said it expects the funding will help manufacturers install heat pumps and electric motors to replace boilers and steam turbines; use heat recovery technology to recycle waste heat and generate power; and conduct studies for replacing natural gas with hydrogen for fuel.

The funding comes through the £289m Industrial Energy Transformation Fund managed by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and is part of a wider push to achieve net zero targets by 2050.

The Government has more than halved the minimum funding thresholds in a bid to encourage smaller companies to apply. This follows feedback on the first phase of the competition, which resulted in 39 applications being awarded a total of £31m. Companies can now apply for between £100,000 and £14m for energy efficiency deployment projects; £50,000 to £14m for engineering studies; and £30,000 to £7m for feasibility studies.

“We can only achieve our ambitious plans to tackle climate change if everyone plays their part, including businesses large and small,” said Energy Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan.

The competition opens on 8 March and closes on 14 July.