Challenges
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Energy networks
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Smart grids
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Market mechanisms
ClientUKRI / Ofgem
CLT were selected by UKRI to gather information and evaluate the need and potential for dedicated support ensuring that market ready companies have access to the capital they require to commercialise through the Ofgem Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF), whose aim is to drive the innovation needed to transform gas and electricity networks for a low-carbon future. The anticipated benefits of providing such support – which anecdotally is a market gap and a barrier to achieving a decarbonised power system by 2035 – include addressing undercapitalisation in innovative companies and providing an early-stage funding mechanism which can support early-stage companies in this space.
The objective of the SIF was to improve the flow of network Innovation into network operation and combined a financing challenge alongside a commercialisation and organisational development challenge for early-stage innovators, but access by these types of innovators was limited.
The work was focussed on establishing a rationale for market intervention and identifying elements which will influence the design of a Funding Intervention to augment the current SIF and support engagement of early-stage innovators. As such, we reviewed the strategic objectives to provide the necessary evidence to input into a Strategic Business Case. We considered types of direct funding and indirect funding through commercialisation support. For each Funding Mechanism, we identified and appraised the Funding Mechanism Features that could be used to deliver this finance and support for the SIF.
The methodology addresses stakeholder engagement in several ways:
- Initial stakeholder interviews and workshops to get inputs on requirements, constraints, and ideas
- Stakeholder workshops to prioritise and refine potential options
- Specific legal workshops to get input and to do detailed work on ensuring workable recommendations .
