Climate-KIC: £125k for UK power research

The UK’s National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and Imperial College London are to receive funding from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s (EIT) Climate-KIC to test new ideas designed to tackle the country’s future power problems.

Climate-KIC has awarded more than £125,000 (~€145,000) through the Climate Market Accelerator (CMA) programme to the ‘Dynamic Demand Challenge’ project which aims to shift electricity usage towards renewable energy at off-peak times. The project is looking for innovative solutions for dynamic electricity demand management and is working with Climate-KIC’s Open Innovation Slam.

Commenting on the new funding, Mary Ritter, chief executive of Climate-KIC, said: “Climate-KIC plays an important role in bringing potential end users in direct contact with suppliers of climate innovations. Our funding will help applicants to the ‘Dynamic Demand Challenge’ to test and refine their work. We’re delighted to fund this challenge as ultimately, our goal is to commercialise innovative climate change products and services that have real impact on climate change mitigation and adaptation.”

The challenge is run by Nesta’s Centre for Challenge Prizes and is also supported by the NPL and the National Grid. The challenge aims to ensure electricity demand is shifted from peak and off-peak periods and towards renewable sources. The funding from Climate-KIC will allow applicants to develop ideas into close-to-market products. It will also provide the funding for shortlisted entrants to test their ideas at the world leading measurement facilities at The Centre for Carbon Measurement at the NPL and to receive assistance from experts to build their ideas at Imperial’s Faculty of Engineering, Design Engineering Group and the Imperial College Business School.

Following this, the entries and their business plans will be assessed by the judging panel and a prize of £50,000 will be awarded to the solution that demonstrates the most significant impact.

Climate-KIC is Europe’s largest public private innovation partnership working to address the challenge of climate change.