Empowering makers and innovatorsClaire Perry, Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth, said:We are at the start of a smart energy revolution, which will see technology like energy storage, smart appliances and electric vehicles become part of the fabric of everyday life. A future built on digital, data-driven smart systems will transform the way society interacts with the grid - delivering cheaper, greener and more flexible access to energy for everyone.This competition will help to give the UK’s makers and innovators the tools to make this vision a reality, and seize on the business opportunities ahead.The energy revolution:The competition is part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund programme, prospering from the energy revolution. The challenge was established to support industry, academia, public bodies and local communities to work together and develop a world-leading, smart local energy systems industry in the UK.Challenge director, Rob Saunders, said:Smart local energy systems can intelligently link supply, storage and use of power, heat and transport in new ways that dramatically improve efficiency and work better for people. This competition will seek the very best ideas in British innovation to show how the energy sector of the future will be cleaner and greener and support the jobs and industries of the future.Creating innovative, ambitious designsThe aim of the competition is to create a pipeline of highly innovative, ambitious, local energy system designs that are investable and ready to roll out across the UK in the 2020s.Projects will create new market and business models using smart energy systems that enable deployment at scale of the latest in energy technologies across heat, power and transport, in a way that is reproducible across the UK.Projects are expected to: develop novel market and business approaches for smart energy systems integrate new energy technologies across heat, power and transport in replicable and scalable ways across the UK investigate and design approaches that will significantly lower energy system costs and emissions create economic benefits for the local area and the UK as a whole develop finance and investment models for the deployment of low carbon technologies at scaleCompetition information the competition will open on 7 May 2019, and close at midday on 7 August 2019 UK organisations of any size can apply Briefings will take place in: London - 30 April 2019 Cardiff - 1 May 2019 Manchester - 2 May 2019 Belfast - 8 May 2019 Edinburgh - 9 May 2019 Find out more here.
