CETP: JOINT CALL 2022

Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA) is contributing up to $5 million to the Clean Energy Transition Partnership’s (CETP) Joint Call 2022. CETP is a transnational initiative for joint research, technological development, and innovation (RTDI) programing to boost and accelerate the energy transition. The global funding program is open to projects in 30 participating countries.

ERA funding will focus on advancing technology solutions for renewable fuels and hydrogen, as well as Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS), with strong potential for commercialization in Alberta. ERA funding is sourced from the Government of Alberta’s Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) fund.

CETP collaborates with funding partners within and beyond Europe to broaden the global knowledge and experience base and introduce European solutions and stakeholders to global value chains. ERA joined CETP in January 2022. The initiative enables 50 national and regional funding partners from 30 countries to align on priorities, pool budgets for two joint calls in 2022 and 2023, and to implement annual calls until 2027.

CETP’s first funding Call, Joint Call 2022 is structured into 7 thematic Transition Initiatives (TRIs) that address challenges outlined in the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA), a 10-year roadmap created by CETP in 2020 that is endorsed by the European Commission.

ERA’s investment is focused on TRI3Enabling Climate Neutrality with Storage Technologies, Renewable Fuels, and CCUS. The primary goal of the CETP TRI3 is to provide technologically cleaner solutions for renewable fuels and hydrogen from all sources, as well as Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS), while also promoting RD&D and innovation projects to achieve global climate neutrality by 2050. Funding from ERA is available for projects at the technology scale-up, field pilot, commercial demonstration, or commercial implementation stages.

FOCUS AREAS

Project proposals require a project consortium consisting of at least three eligible applicants from at least three separate countries/regions participating in CETP TRI3 Call. Consortia with partners from other countries are welcome if these organizations are funded by sources other than CETP. This partnership requirement demonstrates international collaboration and is a way for countries to leverage new knowledge, expertise, and resources.

In the Joint Call 2022, the CETP TRI3 offers two call modules:

Module 1: Enabling Climate Neutrality with Storage Technologies, Renewable Fuels and CCU/CCS

CCUS technologies maximize carbon reuse in a circular economy, removing carbon from the energy system in response to technological, environmental, social and economic challenges. Research target areas for CCUS are:

  • CO2-capture from energy intensive or heavy industry sectors, as well as power, maritime transport, and hydrogen production
  • CO2storage, elements required for the characterization and management of large-scale permanent storage of CO2
  • Enabling CCUS technologies
  • Transport and injection of CO2
  • Negative emission technologies or carbon dioxide Removal technologies
  • Advancing low-cost capture technologies and technologies capable of handling flue gases with lower CO2 concentrations
  • Integration into the energy-system

Module 2: Enabling Climate Neutrality with hydrogen and renewable fuels

Hydrogen and renewable fuels encompass the development of innovative technologies for cost-effective, energy-efficient, and carbon/resource-efficient systems. Research target areas for renewable fuels and hydrogen are:

  • Production of hydrogen and renewable fuels including conversion of synthetic fuels
  • Usage including usage of hydrogen in fuel production
  • Transport
  • Storage

Mandatory Focus – besides focusing on the topics above, projects must address at least one of the cross-cutting and multidisciplinary topics. Cross cutting opportunities include:

  • Consumer attitudes, public acceptance, risk perception, and levers that could influence public behaviours
  • Life cycle, techno-economic and environmental impact analysis including mass, water, land, and energy consumption
  • Legal frameworks, business models, and digitization
  • Barriers, opportunities, and solutions to technology/process scale-up
  • System analysis and integration of processes in the energy system, continuity/intermittence
  • Infrastructure and distribution aspects including pipelines reuse and cost-competitive materials for pipelines

The focus is on projects with industry-relevant approach and should aim for a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 5 or higher, but parts of the project (work package or tasks) may be at a lower TRL.

How To Apply

Submissions for pre-proposals are due November 23, 2022 at 6:00 AM (MST). Applicants shortlisted for the Full Proposal stage will be notified in January 2023. Shortlisted applicants will have until March 20, 2023 at 6:00 AM (MST) to submit a Full Proposal. Funding decisions will be in June of 2023 and projects are expected to start in September of 2023.

All project proposals must be submitted through the CETP Application Portal. Please note that no project proposal will be accepted after the submission deadline.

Click the links below for more details:

CETP TRI3 Call Modules

Please note, an informational webinar will be held in October, 2022. Details of the event will be communicated shortly.

APPROVAL PROCESS

All proposals will undergo a rigorous two-stage evaluation process:

  • Pre-Proposal Review: The first phase consists of “pre-proposal” submissions. CETP-TRI3 consortium will evaluate these pre-proposals to determine their suitability, evaluate them based on the primary and regional criteria, and rank them by a team of independent international experts. ERA will use its standard approval processto determine the suitability of these pre-proposals for moving on to the next phase.
  • Full Proposal Review: A shortlist of applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal that is evaluated and ranked by a team of independent international experts. The final funding decision is made by the relevant national/regional funding bodies based on the ranking and approval of the CETP-TRI3 consortium’s individual funding organizations. ERA will use its standard approval process for final funding decisions.
  • Project Execution: Successful applicants are required to enter into a legal agreement with their respective national/regional funding organizations (e.g., Alberta companies with ERA, Norwegian companies with RCN, etc.). For each approved project, the entire consortium of applicant partners must have a signed agreement detailing the internal organization and management of the consortium, intellectual property arrangements, and settlement of internal disputes.

Projects will be evaluated based on three primary criteria, in addition to national/regional funding organization criteria:

  • Excellence: dealing with the overall fit within the scope of the call, credibility of the technology, scientific merit, ambition and innovation potential, and relevance and clarity of overall objectives.
  • Impact: underscoring the importance of the results of the project, expected outcomes and impacts specified in the CETPartnership Call module, added value of transnational collaboration, and relevance to energy transition.
  • Quality and Efficiency: including a coherent and effective project plan, appropriate budget allocation, risk management procedures, and team capability.

ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP

CETPartnership aims to empower the clean energy transition and contribute to the European Union’s goal of becoming the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, by pooling national and regional RTDI funding for a broad variety of technologies and system solutions required to make the transition.

The goal of the initiative is to:

  • build innovation ecosystems that support capacity building at all levels
  • develop and demonstrate technology solutions for the transition of energy systems
  • build a transnational joint programming platform

CETP is coordinated by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG). It builds on established best practices in:

  • conducting joint calls
  • monitoring progress
  • sharing data, information, and knowledge beyond the projects
  • deducing strategic knowledge
  • maximizing the impact of funded projects and their established European and international relationships

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION

November 23, 2022 at 6:00AM MDT (UTC-6h)