The European Commission has approved funding for 202 new projects under the LIFE+ programme, the European Union’s environment fund. Among the projects approved is a Eur2.2 million project by Clare County Council for tourism on the Burren. Half the money will come from the European Commission and the other half is national co-funding.

The Burren project will build on previous work to protect the rich heritage of the Burren while supporting local employment and economic activity. The project aims to strengthen the integration of tourism and natural heritage, reconciling tourism development with conservation of biodiversity and cultural heritage in the Burren.

The Burren is internationally renowned for its karst limestone and a rich and diverse selection of flora and fauna, archaeological monuments and traditional cultural practices.

The other projects across Europe cover actions in the fields of nature conservation, environmental policy, climate change and information and communication on environmental issues. They represent a total investment of some €516.5 million, of which the EU will provide €268.4 million.

The Commission received 1 078 applications from the 27 EU Member States in response to its latest call for proposals, which closed in July 2011. Of these, 202 were selected for co-funding through the programme’s three components: LIFE+ Nature and Biodiversity, LIFE+ Environment Policy and Governance and LIFE+ Information and Communication.

The European Commission is launching a €34.8 million call for eco-innovation projects. Businesses and entrepreneurs from across Europe can apply for funding to help bring novel environmental projects to the market. The call is open to eco-innovative products, techniques, services and processes that aim to prevent or reduce environmental impacts, or which contribute to the optimal use of resources. The call for applications is open until 6 September 2012, and around 50 projects will be selected for funding.

This year’s call has five main priority areas:

* materials recycling

* water

* sustainable building products

* green business

* the food and drink sector.

The call is targeted particularly at SMEs that have developed an innovative green product, process or service, which is struggling to find its place in the market. The call offers co-funding to cover up to 50 % of the project cost, and is likely to support around 50 new projects this year.

Some 50 projects are now set to launch from last year’s call, and over 140 projects are already underway. Examples of current schemes include converting old discarded TVs into tiles, new waste sorting mechanisms, innovative eco- packaging for milk, and a new technique for recycling textiles.

Eco-Innovation is funded via the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP) and has a budget of approximately €200 million for 2008 to 2013. It supports technologically-proven products which help make better use of Europe’s natural resources. Eco-Innovation is a green strand of the CIP and contributes to the Eco-Innovation Action Plan (EcoAP). The programme is managed by the Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (EACI).

Dublin-based solar cell manufacturing design company, Nines Photovoltaics, has announced the closing of a €750,000 round of funding. The round of funding was led by Irish clean tech investor, Simple.ie, through its Green Employment & Investment Incentive (EII) Fund and was supported by a number of key private investors including the Irish State via Enterprise Ireland. This brings the total funding raised by the company to date to over €2.5m including €1.2m through FP7 European Funding, which was announced in June 2011.

The funding will be used to recruit additional staff and to build the company’s first industrial silicon wafer processing tool, which will house the disruptive technology that has been developed by the Nines Photovoltaics’ team. This tool will be validated in a pilot production line in Fraunhofer ISE (Freiburg Germany) – one of only two places in the world that can certify solar cell efficiencies.

Through its breakthrough proprietary technology and equipment, Nines Photovoltaics aims to dramatically change the processes used to manufacture Solar Cells, reducing the production cost whilst also increasing cell efficiencies.

Edward Duffy, chief executive of Nines Photovoltaics, comments: “These are exciting times. We are innovating in a truly global market with enormous potential and are planning to export 100% of our products. We plan to equip our first production lines in Q4 2012 whilst working with Photovoltaic (PV) manufacturers across the globe.”

Solar Cell manufacturers have been impacted by the global downturn, which has led to much consolidation within the industry over the last 12 months. “Industry wide there has been a change of focus away from investment in production capacity to investment in technologies that result in cost reduction and increased cell efficiencies,” explains Simon Forsyth, chief financial officer of Nines Photovoltaics. “This shift in focus is critical if cell manufacturers are to have an edge in this highly competitive market and our technology offers this advantage.”

The Energy Innovation Centre has revealed access to £29.2 million of funding for innovators and companies looking to bring new ideas for tomorrow’s energy industry to market. Available from February 2012, the funding can be accessed via the Energy Innovation Centre and investments will be selected by five of the UK’s leading electricity distribution companies – Electricity North West, Northern Power Grid, ScottishPower Energy Networks, Scottish and Southern Energy and UK Power Networks. These major players are looking to implement new services and technologies to enhance the way power is transported, monitored and stored.

The funding available originates from Ofgem’s Innovation Funding Incentive scheme and the £500m Low Carbon Networks (LCN) Fund.

“This is another huge step forward for innovators and businesses that need to accelerate their ideas to market. As part of this initiative we will continue to deliver a range of support services, including opportunities to test technologies on high and low voltage power networks and establish relationships with potential customers,” comments Denise Massey, director of the Energy Innovation Centre. “This is an opportunity for the UK to further develop the way energy is distributed whether this is a new or early stage idea or an existing technology from another industry which will improve the energy supply process. We are looking for products that will help manage demand, and encourage more efficient use of energy in the home and workplace.”

The UK power industries operate power networks with a replacement value of £150 billion and invest £1.5 billion per annum on maintaining and growing their 500,000 miles of cable which deliver electricity to homes.

Mark Mathieson, managing director of networks at Scottish and Southern Energy, says: “The low carbon agenda will change the way we buy and procure energy from the model we’re used to. Not a lot has changed since the 1930s but we as we move towards the likes of wind generation, electric cars, PV systems we’re looking at a more intermittent and complex mix of energy generation and use. The flows of energy will be completely different to what we’re used to and we need to manage the new constraints. Fault detection and resolution will also become increasingly complex.”

Since its launch in 2008 the Cheshire-based Energy Innovation Centre has provided business support to over 140 SMEs, start-ups and inventors from the UK and internationally. The Centre offers a complete range of services including product development, funding assistance, business support and access to power experts, and is committed to turning energy saving ideas into commercial reality.

For more information about the funding available and to see a list of industry technology gaps call 0151 347 2433 or visit www.energyinnovationcentre.com.

CAPTION:

Pictured (left to right): Chris Goodhand, innovation manager of CE Electric; Mike Kay, director of engineering and planning of Electricity North West; Stewart Reid, future networks and policy manager of Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE); and Denise Massey, director of the Energy Innovation Centre.

The European Commission has released the selection results for the 2011 call for project proposals under the Intelligent Energy – Europe (IEE) programme. Notifications are underway to open negotiations with the 54 projects which were selected from over 340 proposals to receive a share of the Eur66 million available under this year’s call.

These 54 multinational projects were tabled by over 600 organisations across Europe. They focus on energy efficiency, renewable energy sources, clean transport and mobilising local energy investments. The IEE programme is a key contributor to the EU 20/20/20 energy targets.

The WestWave Project aims to develop the first wave energy project in Ireland by 2015 by generating an initial 5MW of clean renewable electricity from the plentiful wave energy resource available off the west coast of Ireland. WestWave is a collaborative project being led by ESB in conjunction with a number of wave energy technology partners including Irish technology developers Wavebob and Ocean Energy and Scottish technology developers Aquamarine Power and Pelamis Wave Power.

Wavebob.

The project will be considered for funding under the EU’s NER300 fund, alongside support under the Republic of Ireland’s Renewable Energy Feed-In Tariff (REFIT) for wave energy and domestic grant funding. The project is in line with ESB’s strategy to develop 150MW of electricity from ocean energy by 2020 and the Irish Government’s strategy to generate 500MW from ocean energy in the same period.

In a further development, ESB has been awarded Foreshore Exploration Licenses for the WestWave Project by the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government (DECLG). This will enable ESB to conduct marine surveys and resource measurements at two locations, Killard Point, County Clare and the Achill Area, County Mayo.

ESB chief executive Padraig McManus says: ”ESB’s strategy involves focusing on sustainable and renewable energy technologies with the goal of reducing our carbon emissions by 80% by 2030 and achieving net carbon neutrality for our generation portfolio by 2050.”

Enterprise Ireland has announced that the latest round of funding from the €3.2 billion industry-focused initiatives under the EU’s €50 billion Framework Programme 7 (FP7) budget will be available to Irish businesses from mid-July. These Public Private Partnership initiatives are aimed at those sectors most affected by the economic downturn, namely manufacturing, construction and automotive.

Enterprise Ireland is urging companies and researchers to collaborate and apply to the fund. The three areas are:

1. Factories of the Future: €1.2 billion has been committed for the development and innovation of new enabling technologies for the EU manufacturing sector.

2 Energy-efficient Buildings: €1 billion has been committed for methods and technologies to slash energy consumption and CO2 emissions of new and renovated buildings.

3 Green Cars: €1 billion has been committed to developing technologies for more environmentally friendly vehicles.

FP7 funding is a European research and innovation fund designed to incentivise businesses and scientists to join forces to collaborate on developing technologies and products of the future. In the first four years of the framework Programme, Ireland has secured €270 million in funding, with €67 million of this going to companies.

“As well as the funding, other direct benefits for companies include access to technologies and expertise that will support the development and growth of business internationally and for academic researchers to get involved in cutting edge industry focused applied research projects,” says director of the National Support Network for FP7 in Ireland, Dr Imelda Lambkin of Enterprise Ireland.

A collaborative project bringing together three of Europe’s leading utilities and wave energy technologies provided by Aquamarine Power and Pelamis has been selected by the UK Government for a major European funding bid.

The Pentland Orkney Wave Energy Resource (POWER) project is the only wave energy bid being put forward by the UK Government to the European Investment Bank (EIB) for consideration in the first round of the EU’s New Entrant Reserve (NER300) scheme – a fund worth around Eur4.5 billion to support carbon capture and storage (CCS) and innovative renewable projects across the European Union.

The POWER project aims to deliver the world’s first large-scale grid-connected demonstration of a wave energy farm with a total generation capacity of 28 MW.

If successful, the project will comprise ten near shore Aquamarine Power Oyster 3 devices and 24 offshore Pelamis machines within the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters leasing area, operating in multi-device array configurations. Both of these technologies are leaders in their field, having been successfully demonstrated at small scale. The project will have a single point of connection to the onshore grid.

The POWER project and bid, which was structured and coordinated by the Scottish European Green Energy Centre (SEGEC), is a collaboration by ScottishPower Renewables, E.ON Climate & Renewables and Brough Head Wave Farm – a joint venture between SSE Renewables and Aquamarine Power.

Data and learning captured during the development and operation of the project will be used directly to accelerate the commercialisation of wave energy technology and the development of the industry in Europe.

By providing a final pre-commercial large-scale demonstration of Aquamarine Power near shore Oyster 3 devices and offshore Pelamis machines within the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters development area, the POWER project would be a significant milestone in the development of the wave energy sector in Europe and worldwide.

UK-based Enecsys, a leader in reliable, long-life solar micro inverter systems for residential and commercial applications, has secured a further £25 million in equity financing to invest in its growth plan, in what is the largest private equity raise by any European clean-tech company, so far, in 2011.

Enecsys was founded in 2003 and its patented technology was originally developed at Cambridge University in the UK. Solar inverters convert the DC power produced by solar photovoltaic (PV) modules into AC power for supply to the electricity grid. Enecsys micro inverters are installed on the rail behind solar modules, either one inverter per solar module or one for every two modules. The Enecsys micro inverter represents a breakthrough in inverter design for residential and commercial solar PV installations as its technology has, for the first time, eliminated components that limit inverter life.

Additionally the Enecsys micro inverter enables solar PV systems to harvest between 5% and 20% more energy; it makes planning and installation of PV systems easier and safer due to the elimination of high voltage DC wiring, and it enhances system optimization by monitoring the performance of each solar module. Enecsys has recently launched its products in Europe and North America and the latest financing has been arranged to facilitate substantial expected growth.

Climate Change Capital Private Equity led the funding round and joins existing investors Wellington Partners, NES Partners and Good Energies.

Toyota Ireland will fund some of Ireland’s up and coming young environmentalists through the awarding of €10,000 in seed grants to ECO-UNESCO’s clubs across Ireland. ECO-UNESCO is Ireland’s environmental education and youth organisation and its clubs provide an outlet for young people to come together and help the environment and their local communities in a fun and meaningful way. 

Toyota will award grants to ten chosen ECO-UNESCO clubs participating in its ‘Clubs in Action’ programme. The grants which range from €250 for a Bronze Seed Grant up to €1,000 for a Gold Seed Grant, will be used to implement important environmental activities including energy saving, recycling, eco-transport, local clean-ups, tree planting and other environmental awareness raising activities. The grant giving will be further complemented by the involvement and guidance of staff from Toyota dealerships across the country, many of whom are being trained as ECO-Leaders by ECO-UNESCO.

ECO-UNESCO’s ‘Clubs in Action’ initiative is supported on a European level by the Toyota Fund for Europe, which grants financial support to local projects that have the potential to have a positive impact on the local environment and society. As a key partner, Toyota Ireland also sponsors the ECO-UNESCO Club of the Year Award, and has provided an eco-friendly Toyota Prius to the organisation.

An over-complicated bureaucratic system is significantly hampering job creation and investment in the Irish renewable sector, according to the Irish Wind Energy Association.

IWEA chief executive Dr Michael Walsh says that excess bureaucracy and unnecessary risk is driving investors away from what should be a thriving market.

“The absence of a coordinated and cohesive system for facilitating the delivery of required installations to meet our 2020 targets is resulting in an unstable market for investment. Such is the instability that last year we saw a 58% drop (Eur265m) in the level of investment in the wind sector in Ireland,” he explains. “Investors are lined up and ready to go but the framework for investment is simply too volatile. Many rules and processes are under review and there is no overall co-ordination of the consents needed to make an investment in renewable energy in Ireland. Investors are being asked to make substantial financial commitments in advance of clarity on the regulations that will apply in the future. International financial providers are still interested in Ireland but they will no longer accept this level of uncertainty.”

Dr Michael Walsh, chief executive of IWEA.

Indeed, the IWEA has spoken with a number of local and international banks who said they would like to continue funding renewable projects in Ireland but are increasingly concerned about the ever changing policy framework. “We need to provide these investors with a clear set of rules that they can analyse to bring efficient investments to Ireland,” he says. “The absence of a joined up approach has resulted in wild swings in the volume of activity in the sector. For example, we installed 250MW of wind in ’06 and then just 50MW in ’07. In ’09 we had 230MW installed but last year that was down to 115MW. The real shame is that this volatility makes it more difficult for local companies to capitalise on what should be a thriving sector. They will not speculate or invest in a market that fluctuates like ours does.”

Ireland needs to install over 300MW per year for the next nine years to deliver on its 2020 targets of 40% of electricity from renewable energy sources. The IWEA’s Deloitte report of 18 months ago illustrated that this could create over 10,000 jobs in Ireland but it also warned that consistent delivery would be necessary to create a solid platform for enterprise and job creation.

Dr Walsh elaborates: “Based on current inconsistent trends we could end up trying to rush through 900MW per year in four or five years time. This instability means we will not develop an indigenous supply chain to service the market. As a result, we will have to bring in people from other countries such as Denmark and Germany that have developed their industries and skills to do this work and Ireland will have missed out on high value job creation opportunities as a result.”

However, the new Government, if it acts quickly, can eradicate these problems. “What we need is a robust management system for the industry, where official bodies communicate with each other and work to make the sector business friendly and effective. The appointment by Minister Rabbitte of an ‘Energy Tsar’ within his department to co-ordinate energy and enterprise policy would certainly be a crucial first step,” he adds. “We should also urgently commence negotiations with the UK to ensure that Irish projects can play a part in meeting the UK’s energy needs. We will have the resources to meet over 15% of the UK’s 2020 renewable requirements in a highly cost effective fashion for UK consumers. This would result in additional jobs and investment in Ireland and ongoing export revenues.”

The IWEA chief concludes: “We could be world leaders in smart energy technology and green finance but we need to stop putting barriers in the way of enterprises that want to help us meet our national targets and reduce our energy costs.”

Pictured are: Michael Phelan (centre), chief executive of Endeco; sales & marketing director Tom Bean and Alex Hobbs of Dublin BIC, Investment Partner of AIB Seed Capital Fund.

An innovative new Irish company has attracted €800,000 in funding to drive the growth of its business at home and abroad. Founded by chief executive Michael Phelan, Endeco Technologies has invented and developed a range of wireless smart energy management technologies which it is already selling into the retail sector.

The investment in Endeco was led by the €53 million AIB Seed Capital Fund which is co-managed by Dublin BIC, the enterprise development organisation.  Additional funding was raised through Enterprise Ireland and private investors.

Endeco says it already has a strong influx of business and plans to create 30 new jobs by 2012.  The company is actively seeking applications from sales and marketing professionals with Irish and UK experience ideally in the area of software systems.

Endeco’s product involves smart building technology.  The Irish company has recently deployed its products in a number of small and medium sized retail outlets in Ireland with positive results.  The product has demonstrated that it can save retailers up to 25% on their energy costs by using wireless sensors and automated control of energy intensive electrical equipment such as refrigeration, lighting, heating and air conditioning in stores.