Government support for low-carbon SMEs

Detail of support to help SMEs come up with the low carbon ideas of the future has been announced by Edward Davey, according to a DECC press release.

The Energy Entrepreneurs Fund will have a budget of up to £35 million over the next 3 years and will provide financial support for SMEs to develop and demonstrate their ideas. They will be able to apply for up to £1m funding from government, and can then use that funding to leverage additional funds from private sector investors. They will also be able to get support from experts on how to bring their products to market. A panel of investors will provide advice to DECC on picking the companies to support.

Of the £35 million, £20 million, from DECC’s Buildings Innovation Programme, will initially support energy efficiency technologies, for example advanced lighting, heat pumps, ventilation technologies. Details of the application process will be available by the summer. £15 million will expand the call into power generation at a later stage.

DECC will also shortly launch a £3 million competition, in partnership with the Technology Strategy Board to assess the performance of advanced heat storage technologies suitable for integration with domestic heating systems.