An innovative United Kingdom programme, Energy Catalyst has awarded over £40 million in grant funding to a range of innovative projects with plans to harness clean energy and enable a just and inclusive energy transition.
A statement on Saturday, by Energy Catalyst said the funding award was announced by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as part of a £316m package of announcements in support of an inclusive and just transition at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai.
“Innovate UK’s Energy Catalyst programme has awarded over £40 million in grant funding to a range of innovative projects with plans to harness clean energy and enable a just and inclusive energy transition,” Sunak said.
He added that the £40m is part of the Ayrton Fund for clean energy innovation, with this funding provided by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office through the Transforming Energy Access platform, and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
It also underscores the UK Government’s continued commitment to support the research development and demonstration of innovative technologies and business models necessary to foster affordable and clean energy for all.
Projects to receive grant funding and business support include Achelous Energy, which will demonstrate a floating oceanic solar farm in Indonesia, and Ion Venture’s project which will develop an automatic battery-swapping cabinet to help scale e-mobility in Uganda.
Energy Catalyst Lead at Innovate UK, Alice Goodbrook said, “We are proud to see Energy Catalyst scale effectively to meet this increasingly urgent challenge and we look forward to working collaboratively with all the innovators being supported through this latest round. The breadth of technologies and regions represented signifies a crucial step towards achieving a more sustainable and equitable future, extending the benefits of clean energy for all.“
