Subsidy scheme available to accelerate Smart Energy Systems innovations
In order to realise the plans from the Rotterdam Climate Accord and the Roadmap Next Economy, the Municipality of Rotterdam wants to accelerate the roll-out and upscaling of Smart Energy Systems (SES) innovations into commercial applications by supporting projects. Subsidy round 3 was closed on October 1, 2021. Keep an eye on this website for new funding rounds.
The importance of a new, robust, sustainable and flexible energy system for Rotterdam is enormous. It requires intelligent networks for decentralised generation, transport and use, digital services and business models. Consider, for example, initiatives that fine-tune supply and demand more intelligently, initiatives for the temporary storage of energy or initiatives that handle network balance and prevent congestion.
More flexible, more efficient and cheaper
The new generation of 'smart energy systems' connect the supply and demand of energy in a way that is more flexible, more efficient and cheaper. Numerous new applications are possible thanks to new, innovative earning models. For example, there will be new opportunities for companies to invest in the installation of solar panels on the roofs of offices or on the buildings of housing associations. New trading platforms may also emerge on which companies and residents can offer their unused energy for sale to consumers in the area. Residents' initiatives to set up a sustainable energy cooperative also fit in with the concept of smart energy systems, as do energy innovations that make energy consumption in the port and industry more sustainable, such as the application of green hydrogen.
Subsidy
Taking investment decisions for this type of innovation is difficult if there is insufficient certainty in advance about whether an innovation can be scaled up to a commercially attractive proposition. In order to break through this problem, the Municipality of Rotterdam is offering the SES2021 subsidy scheme. The subsidy is intended for feasibility studies and the experimental development of innovations in the energy system.
Contact with the Smart Energy Systems programme team: via g.vantoledo@rotterdam.nl.