SBRI: Net Zero heat and power upgrades for demand reduction phase 1

This is a Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition funded by Innovate UK, which will invest up to £5 million over two phases.

The aim of the competition is to accelerate the shift to a net zero economy by developing and testing scalable service propositions. These must reduce bills and carbon emissions from buildings with the intention of commercialising the results beyond phase 2 of the competition.

Projects must take a data driven approach to assessing and defining appropriate pathways for:

• the upgrading of building portfolios
• targeting decarbonisation
• energy demand reduction
• market demand certainty
• heat efficiency

You must work with relevant supply chains and the owners of portfolios of public, commercial and domestic buildings to develop and test an approach to delivering future building upgrade programmes.

This is phase 1 of a 2 phase competition.

For phase 1, you must deliver a feasibility study that:

• outlines your approach
• identifies a building portfolio owning partner
• describes supply chain partners and outlines how this service could be commercialised more broadly after the end of the project

For phase 2, successful projects from phase 1 will be invited to apply for funding to test their approach. Success in the phase 2 competition will depend on a subsequent assessment process.

Projects must:

• have total costs of up to £22,000, inclusive of VAT
• start by 1 April 2023
• end by 30 June 2023
• last up to 3 months
• carry out all of its project work in the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
• be scalable or replicable across the nations of the UK

Eligibility

To lead a project, you must:

• be an organisation of any size
• work alone or with others from business, research organisations, research and technology organisations or the third sector as subcontractors
• be responsible for, or work with organisations that have, access to a portfolio of buildings for demonstrations in your phase 2 project

You can work with businesses, local authorities, charities, housing associations or registered social landlords.

The term Local Authority includes:

• county councils
• district councils
• unitary authorities
• metropolitan districts
• London boroughs

Regional collaborations coordinated through bodies such as Combined Authorities are also eligible.

We particularly welcome collaborative applications between multiple authorities, where one approach can be demonstrated in diverse contexts.

Scope

The aim of the competition is to accelerate the shift to a net zero economy, by developing and testing scalable commercial service propositions. These must reduce bills and carbon emissions from buildings with the intention of commercialising the results beyond phase 2 of the competition. Your project must take a data driven approach to assessing and defining appropriate pathways for:

• the upgrading of building portfolios
• targeting decarbonisation
• energy demand reduction
• market demand certainty
• heat efficiency

Please read the full scope for a breakdown of the phase 1 and phase 2 requirements. (Note that hydrogen for heating, and industrial buildings, are both of out of scope.)

Innovate UK KTN will be holding an online briefing event from 2-4pm on 6th December: click here to register to attend.

If you want help to find an organisation to work with, contact KTN’s Infrastructure team.