Austria Promotes Energy Research with 17 Million Euros
The Climate and Energy Fund promotes innovations for clean, affordable and reliable energy supply. The aim is to strengthen Austria as a location for innovation and to improve export opportunities for the domestic economy. A total of 17 million euros is available for the program, endowed from the funds of the Ministry of Climate Protection (BMK).
With its energy research program, the Climate and Energy Fund supports Austrian companies and research institutions in developing new and better climate-friendly technology generations. / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons / Molgreen / CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)
The focus of this year's call is on phasing out fossil energy through the use of renewable hydrogen in the industry as well as new and further developments of technologies for local and district heating. For the first time, solutions for climate change adaptation of energy infrastructure are also being sought to best prevent future damage from natural disasters and to take advantage of emerging opportunities.
Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler announced that to make Austria climate neutral by 2040, we must say goodbye to fossil fuels. At the same time, innovative research is to be driven forward.
Already since 2007, the Climate and Energy Fund has been promoting innovations from the initial idea to market maturity. The Climate and Energy Fund has launched more than 1,000 energy research projects. The current call for proposals builds on this experience and expands the focus to include the area of climate change adaptation of energy infrastructure.
In addition to the energy research program of the Climate and Energy Fund, other funding programs endowed by the Climate Protection Ministry in the area of climate protection and energy transition will start in the last quarter of 2022. As part of the "100% Renewable Energy Reallabs" initiative, which has a budget of 20 million euros, an innovation network is to be created with up to five regional real labs that will test the energy transition on site.
Two million euros are available for the "Energy.Free.Space" call for proposals to develop regulatory sandboxes and innovative market models for the system integration of renewable energy technologies, among other things. The lead project "Data Service Ecosystems for the Energy Transition" focuses on the interface between digital technologies and energy systems and is endowed with three million euros. The goal is the development and model implementation of a data service ecosystem.
Further information on the BMK programs, which are handled by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency, is available at www.ffg.at.
Details on the Energy Research Program 2022
The call for proposals of the Climate and Energy Fund is addressed to all actors dealing with research questions that address one of the following focal points:
- sector coupling and renewable hydrogen in the industry
- field tests of heat storage systems
Submission deadlines: 03/29/2023
- climate-neutral heating and cooling
- climate change adaptation of energy infrastructure
Submission deadlines: Priorities 3 and 4: 10.05.2023
Projects must seek significant technological advances in at least one focus area and demonstrate an above-average contribution to climate neutrality. Additionally, the broad applicability of the technology is required.