Investments grants from Finland and EU to support Green Technology Projects in 2021

Is your company launching a low-carbon technology or are you planning to demonstrate a green technology in your processes? Below you can find important information about investment grants offered during 2021 by the Finnish State as well as the European Union.

Application period to support new large energy technology projects open until the end of February 2021

The Finnish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment has announced a grant program for 2021 to support new energy technologies and large demonstration projects.
Projects in the following categories can apply:  

1. Renewable transport fuels, incl. electrical fuels,

2. Heat production, excl. incineration-based, and

3. Other large demonstration projects with new energy technology solutions.

The grant decisions are based on an overall evaluation and comparison between the projects. The evaluation considers the following factors: technical novelty, project feasibility, level of energy production, cost efficiency and related project impacts.

Grant applications for large projects must be submitted latest on the 28th of February 2021 via the Business Finland portal. Indicatively the decisions are many during Autumn 2021.

European Innovation Fund: Investment grant for low-carbon tech scaleup or first-of-a-kind demonstration projects

The Innovation Fund's first-ever call for small-scale projects is now open until March 10th, 2021. The call aims to support innovative clean energy and clean industry projects contributing to Europe's green recovery and transition to climate neutrality. Projects must be first-of-a-kind demonstrations or scaling-up of innovative low-carbon technologies – with significant and quantifiable GHG emissions savings potential.

The eligible sectors:
- Production and use of renewable energy, incl. manufacturing plants for components
- Carbon capture, use and storage
- Energy storage, incl. manufacturing plants for components
- Energy-intensive industries (participating in the Emissions Trading Scheme, ETS), incl. new innovative substitute products used or produced in ETS sectors.

The call is intended for projects with total capital costs between 2.5 – 7.5 MEUR. The projects can be carried out either by companies individually or with key partners (e.g., key technology provider or customer for implementation on customer site). The amount of grant funding available per project is up to 60 % of the capital costs. The overall size of the call is 100 MEUR.

The deadline for submitting the applications is on the 10th of March 2021. The information on the evaluation results is indicated to be available in August 2021. More details of the call on Innovation Fund’s website.

Does your project have a higher capex cost than 7.5 MEUR? The next Innovation Fund Large-Scale call deadline will be in the autumn of 2021.