Three Irish businesses have secured €7.3m in funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 (H2020) initiative, with each working on separate renewable energy projects.
H2020 is an immense, €80bn programme to fund projects that will, in theory, position the EU at the forefront of scientific progress by the end of the decade.
With that, many Irish companies have sought funding, with some 588 Irish research projects bagging €251m so far.
Three more
Now, three more companies have been added to that list, along with €7.3m more funding, after MAC, OpenHydro Group and ÉireComposites were selected – along with 13 others – out of a pool of more than 1,000 seeking the current batch of funding.
This particular tranche of funding was for close-to-market projects.
MAC (Limerick) is working on a project called ADMS, which is about improving the stability of renewable energy in the electricity grid. MAC, along with partners in Germany and the Netherlands, will receive more than €1.5m in total.
OpenHydro (Dublin) is working on a project called ‘Open-Centre Tidal Turbine Industrial Capability’, leading a group of partners in Belgium, the UK and the Netherlands.
Almost €3m will go to the project, which looks at wave energy and aims to find ways to make it as cheap as wind energy so that it is more practical to use in the electricity grid.
Turbines galore
ÉireComposites (Galway) is part of a team that has secured more than €2.7m for POWDERBLADE (‘Commercialisation of Advanced Composite Material Technology: Carbon-Glass Hybrid in PowderEpoxy for Large (60-100m) Wind Turbine Blades’).
They are in the final stages of a project to manufacture light, cost-effective, carbon-glass hybrid blades for wind turbines.
“Through H2020, we want to support innovative businesses to compete in global markets,” said Carlos Moedas, the EU commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation.
“These results bring the total investment to nearly €135m in fast-access EU funding for close-to-the-market innovation activities, helping European R&D reach successful commercialisation.”
H2020 funding is huge business, with a tailored consultancy firm recently setting up shop in Dublin to help companies apply for funding.
Choosing Dublin for its hub because the city is “one of the best places in the world for start-ups”, Alien Ireland COO Paul Pietrangelo said the presence of both research-focused universities and big tech companies in the city was key.
Renewables image via Shutterstock
