Ofgem Strategic Innovation Fund Round 5 Discovery C5

Overview

This competition is delivered by Innovate UK in partnership with Ofgem and is funded through the Ofgem Strategic Innovation Fund. The fund supports early-stage innovation that can help deliver net zero outcomes at the lowest cost to energy consumers, while enabling innovative businesses to grow and scale.

The Discovery phase is the first stage of a three-phase programme, followed by Alpha and Beta phases. Projects funded at Discovery are expected to define the problem being addressed, the value of solving it, and the potential pathway to testing and demonstration in later phases.

Scope

Projects must address one of seven defined Strategic Innovation Fund Round 5 challenge areas and be submitted to the appropriate challenge and theme. Applications must be collaborative and focus on network innovation that can benefit Great Britain’s energy system, consumers and network operation.

The Discovery phase is intended to explore user needs, system constraints, opportunities for improvement and environmental impacts. Successful projects will be invited to apply for the Alpha phase, where solutions identified during Discovery may be further developed and tested ahead of potential large-scale demonstration in the Beta phase.

Key themes and topics

Projects must align to one of the following Strategic Innovation Fund Round 5 challenges:

• Advanced energy transmission and networks
• Dynamic modelling
• High energy demand point integration
• Consumer centric grid expansion
• Enhanced system visibility and control
• Green gas
• Whole system optimisation

Projects must also consider cross-cutting priorities including customer focus, scalability and replicability, data and digitalisation, shared learning, skills and capability, supply chains and network resilience.

Project duration

Projects must be completed within a five month window.
Projects must start after 1 May 2026.
Projects must end by 30 September 2026.

Award value

Projects can request up to £150,000 in Strategic Innovation Fund support, exclusive of VAT.
Projects must provide a minimum of 10% of total project costs from private funding.

Funding rates

This competition is designed to be awarded on a no subsidy basis under the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Funding will only be awarded where the project activity does not confer an economic advantage on participating organisations.

Matched contributions above the mandatory 10% minimum may be assessed as offering greater value for money. Projects may also consider whether additional private or public funding is appropriate where costs should not be met by consumer bill payers.

Eligibility criteria

Projects must be collaborative and led by an Ofgem licensed gas or electricity network organisation, including a gas distribution network, gas transmission network, electricity transmission network, electricity distribution network or electricity system operator.

Projects must include at least one additional project partner and meet the specific partner requirements set out for the chosen challenge and theme. Project partners may include UK registered businesses of any size, SMEs, suppliers, academic institutions, research organisations or other licensed network companies.

All funded project work must be carried out in line with Strategic Innovation Fund governance requirements. Projects must be completed within the Discovery phase timeframe and meet all monitoring and reporting requirements.

This competition is awarded on a no subsidy basis. It is the responsibility of the lead organisation to ensure all project partners remain compliant with the funding status awarded.