Gas Innovation Fund

The Innovation Fund is intended to promote and accommodate an environment of innovation in the gas industry.

Innovation in the Gas Industry

The Gas Innovation Fund is intended to promote and encourage an environment of innovation in the gas industry. Gas Networks Ireland wishes to engage with key stakeholders in order to share knowledge and leverage the best use of all resources for innovation. It is intended that the Gas Innovation Fund will foster creativity, tailor innovation and consider solutions that meet gas industry needs, embedding innovation in the Gas Networks Ireland organisation and the gas industry.

Please read below to find out more about the Gas Innovation Fund and access the Gas Innovation Fund Guide for Applicants before submitting an online application form for funding.

Online Application Form

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The Gas Innovation Fund:

Under Gas Networks Ireland’s third price control (PC3) the CRU approved the establishment of an Innovation Fund to support innovation in the gas industry. Gas Networks Ireland went through its fourth price control (PC4) and a new gas innovation fund has been allowed for as part of PC4.

Categories:

The aim of the gas innovation fund is to provide support for research and demonstration projects. In addition, a small allocation of funding goes to Gas Networks Ireland for programme management. The gas innovation fund has been divided into the following two broad categories:

Research (€1 million)
Strategic Projects (€3.17 million)

Key Priorities:

There are a number of key priorities that drive the gas innovation fund. The key priorities are (i) increase throughput through the gas system, (ii) assist in the transition to a low carbon economy, (iii) deliver significant carbon savings and (iv) provide measurable value to all gas customers. More information about the key priorities can be found here.

Gas Innovation Fund Annual Reports:

The CRU has published an Innovation Reporting Framework and as part of this framework Gas Networks Ireland is required to provide an annual report to the CRU for each gas year of the price control. The annual report outlines the activities of the Gas Innovation Fund for that particular time period. The first annual report is a combined report which covers two gas years i.e. from October 2017 to September 2019. More information about this report can be found here.

Administration:

The Gas Innovation Fund is administered and Chaired by Gas Networks Ireland with the Gas Innovation Advisory Group (GIAG) acting as advisors to the fund. The GIAG is comprised of representatives from academia, industry and policy. Members of the GIAG include:

Cork Institute of Technology (CIT)
Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment (DCCAE)
Department of Transport Tourism and Sport (DTTAS)
Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI)
Enterprise Ireland
Gas Networks Ireland
National Economic and Social Council (NESC)
National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG)
Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI)
University College Cork (UCC)

Gas Networks Ireland will carry out a high level assessment of the applications forms that are submitted then the eligible application forms will be sent to the GIAG for review. The GIAG make a recommendation about whether an application has merit. The Chair is responsible for bringing these recommendations to the Gas Networks Ireland Innovation Steering Committee for funding approval. Where an application is successful, funding that has been approved will only be released once an agreed contract is in place with Gas Networks Ireland.

Evaluation Criteria:

Proposals seeking funding under the Gas Innovation Fund are assessed under certain criteria, such as relevance, maturity and impact.

Relevance – how relevant is the project with regard to addressing the Gas Innovation Fund priorities?
Maturity – how mature is the project, have elements of the project already started?
Impact – what impact will the project have and what are the potential practical applications for the project?

Applications:

If you are interested in applying for funding from the Gas Innovation Fund please complete the online application form. The online form is relatively short with mandatory fields and a character limit for the responses. Once you have submitted your application it will be reviewed and you may be asked for additional information to support your application.

You can also access the Gas Innovation Fund Guide for Applicants.

Online Application Form

Already have a reference key?

Submission Deadlines:

Innovation applications are assessed on a quarterly basis. Please see below for the submission deadlines for 2022 (final submission deadline for 2022 is on May 13th):

(i) February 18th
(ii) May 13th

Please send any questions relating to this application process to the following email address: innovationapplications@gasnetworks.ie.

Successful Applicants:

Those applicants that are approved for funding will receive an email informing them that their application was successful and of the next steps in relation to the signing of a contract with Gas Networks Ireland.

Reporting Obligations:

There are certain reporting obligations that successful applicants must complete as their project progresses. For example an interim report, highlighting the projects progress, must be completed every six months and a final report is required once the project has been completed.