EPSRC Network Pluses in Energy to Form Next Generation Supergen Hubs

Funding to establish Network Pluses to discover and develop the next generation of renewable energy technologies.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is providing funding to establish Network Pluses to discover and develop the next generation of renewable energy technologies and put the UK at the forefront of these areas of technology.

This funding opportunity is intended to create coherence in emerging areas of renewable energy research to drive forward research in Sustainable PowER GENeration and supply to give the UK a lead in the next generation of these technologies. Proposals must focus on technology areas that already exist with some critical mass.

The purpose of each Network+ will be to bring together a community and develop a research agenda for a proposed area in next generation renewable energy technologies and that provide an opportunity to secure UK leadership with greater levels of coordination and research activity.

Each Network+ will aim to create coherence in a research area that is currently absent and will therefore enable a future bid to compete for Supergen Hub funding and should include industry engagement in their planning. Two to three of these Network+ investments may then be taken forward as the next generation of Supergen hubs (subject to funding).

Network+ proposals should focus on an emerging area of renewable energy technology that will enhance UKRI’s Energy and Decarbonisation portfolio and ensure that next generation renewable technologies are more environmentally sustainable than previous approaches. Proposals from areas that are currently or have previously been part of the Supergen programme must therefore be substantially different to previously funded work or they will not be considered.

The current Supergen portfolio consists of three hubs: Offshore Renewable Energy, Bioenergy, Energy Networks and two network+s: Solar Technologies and Energy Storage.

Awards will last between 24 and 30 months. Projects must start by 1 July 2024.