Developing more clean energy is clearly essential to improving our environment, so some young UK companies have been awarded Innovate UK grant funding to support their clean energy research and development projects. I take a look at four interesting examples. Each has received at least one grant award in the past two years.
While all the projects listed were supported by an InnovateUK grant, the companies could also to be eligible to claim UK Research and Development Expenditure Credit (RDEC); and some non-grant funded elements of the projects may be claimable under the SME R&D tax credit scheme, depending on the classification and scale of the grant received. Read: How do Grants and Research & Development Tax Credits Work Together.
Profile of 4 companies that received at least one InnovateUK grant in the past two years.
Nova Pangaea Technologies is a ‘cleantech business’ that “has developed technologies that refine biomass as a replacement for crude oil and gas based intermediates”. Burning biomass still releases carbon dioxide (CO2) but the plants used to make it capture almost the same amount of CO2 through photosynthesis while growing. Nova Pangaea Technologies was founded in 2014, based in North Yorkshire and has received four grants since it started. The most recent was a “Green Fuels, Green Skies (GFGS) Competition” grant to carry out a feasibility study on sustainable aviation fuel. Over its lifetime it has secured fundraisings of around £9m and received over £5m of grants.
Wilson Bio-Chemical is specialised in the “conversion of municipal solid waste and commercial & industrial wastes into a homogenous biogenic fibre and sanitised recycled materials for on-sale”. Based in Yorkshire and The Humber, it received its first grant in 2016. The third and latest, just announced, is for “project finance and research and development to convert non-recyclable waste into sustainable aviation fuel”. It has so far secured c£350k in grant funding.
The BioFactory runs a design and engineering business, focusing on waste to energy solutions, specialising in the utilisation of Anaerobic Digestion (AD) for micro-scale applications “… harnessing the power of poo”. It was established in 2018, based in the Somerset. It’s latest grants, received in 2020, ar to develop a commercially viable product for a low-cost, sustainable biogas, through self-contained, off-grid latrine/waste-processing systems. The total of grants awarded so far is c£900k and the company has secured £240k in fundraisings.
EcoNomad Solutions develops technology for smaller farms that enables conversion of farm waste into fuel. It has a product called BioNomad – a waste-to-energy system that turns animal slurry into a renewable fuel (biogas) for generating onsite heat and energy; and a high-grade organic fertiliser. Established in 2017, it is based in London and received its second grant in early 2020 for “improving off-grid energy and water access through innovative passive-thermal technologies”. It is a seed stage company that has secured fundraisings of £140k and grants of £126k.
While it’s essential that support is given to start-up and early stage companies to undertake R&D projects, it will all be wasted if resulting solutions are not adopted commercially. Most start-ups know just how challenging it can be to take a new product to market. So it will be interesting to see how much traction these companies get over the next few years.
Information and quotes for this article were researched using Beauhurst database and the companies’ websites.
Author: Linda Eziquiel