India calls for energy storage R&amp;D projects

India is calling for proposals for projects that contribute to the development of sustainable, integrated transnational energy storage R&D projects. The country's ministry of science and technology has teamed up with Europe's ERA-Net Smart Energy Systems and international body Mission Innovation on the project, with the last offering €20m ($22.3m) in funds as part of its Joint Call 2019. The deadline to submit proposals for both short and long-term storage solutions is 12 November, with the projects expected to start by the end of 2020.

The Indian partners will be funded by the DST, which has committed 2 million euros for the projects.

The Department of Science and Technology (DST), under India’s Ministry of Science and Technology, has partnered with the European joint programming platform ERA-Net Smart Energy Systems and the global Mission Innovation Initiative for supporting transnational research, development and innovation projects on integrated energy storage solutions.

Funds available under the Joint Call 2019 on energy storage solutions (MICall19) amount to 20 million Euros. The Indian partners will be funded by the DST, which has committed 2 million euros for the projects.

Other participating countries and regions include Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Israel, Italy, Morocco, Nordic and Baltic Region, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.

Scope and mission

The initiative aims to ensure secure and resilient energy supply through up to 100% renewables with focus on the development of integrated storage systems.

Transnational consortia are invited to submit proposals for projects which contribute to the development of sustainable, integrated solutions for both short- and long-term storage. Solutions employing electrical, electrochemical, material, thermal and/or mechanical storage can be developed and shall enable collaboration between stakeholders.

The solutions shall contribute to solving challenges defined by Mission Innovation. Projects shall also consider adoption by addressing market and regulation topics and are highly encouraged to identify and involve “need-owners” in development.

Funded projects will benefit not only from being part of a global innovation network but also of a network of associated partners providing the “need-owner” perspective and supporting projects from proposal phase until market uptake.

Further, a transnational knowledge community will enable exchange with other energy experts and bring project results to a broad audience. Administrative, communication and content-related support is provided by the ERA-Net Knowledge Management Team through information material, events and feedback along the project lifetime.