Narrative

Denmark has chosen to strengthen our dedicated public investment in clean energy research, development and demonstration focusing on reduction of technology costs and CO2 emissions and with an emphasis on innovative projects that can be replicated and scaled up with the involvement of private investors. We will seek to double these efforts departing from a baseline of the average funding to the Danish Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Programme (EUDP) of the years 2015-2016 and until 2020.

Energy Technology and Demonstration Programme

The Danish energy research programme, Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Programme (EUDP), is institutionally part of the Danish Ministry of Energy, Utilities and Climate, and embedded in the Ministry’s energy agency, the Danish Energy Agency. EUDP funds energy related R&D projects based on the following provisions and strategies:

• The Act on EUDP of 22 December 2010, being the legal provision for the programme
• EUDP Strategies providing direction on areas and principles of support. The Strategies are reviewed and revised on a four-year basis
• Calls from the EUDP Secretariat providing detailed guidance for applicants
• Earmarked funding for politically designated areas.

Act on EUDP
The Act on EUDP is relatively broad in its scope as it aims at supporting the policy objectives of security of supply, considerations for the global climate and for a cleaner environment, as well increased cost-effectiveness. Specifically, it aims at making Denmark independent of fossil fuels. At the same time, the objective is to promote exploitation and development of business potentials and to foster growth and employment.

EUDP is tasked to:

• Provide funding primarily for development and demonstration projects;
• Actively promote public-private collaboration, and
• Strengthen involvement in international activities and programs within energy technology.

EUDP is a quasi-independent institution and is managed by an independent board comprising a chairperson and six members. The board members are appointed by the Minister for Energy, Utilities and Climate for a period of four years.

In terms of scope the vast majority of EUDP grants are allocated to the projects within the following fields of technology: biomass technologies, systems for transport and energy, wind power and other renewable energy technologies, hydrogen and fuel cell technologies, low energy buildings, energy efficient solutions energy system technologies (integration of technologies), energy efficiency measures for oil and gas, and more efficient and environmentally friendly production in general (heat and power), including CCS.

4-year rolling strategies
The EUDP board is responsible for drafting a four year strategy, which outlines key areas and principles for supporting and funding projects over the coming period. The strategy normally takes its point of departure in the strengths and needs of the Danish and the global energy systems. A key feature of the strategy is technology neutrality. Instead, more generic criteria such as cost-effectiveness and unique value-proposition are used as core principles when devising strategies. Another key feature is that the EUDP programme is evaluated after each four-year period in order to gauge its impact and efficiency. Currently, the acting board is drafting a new strategy for the period 2016-2019.

Open calls
The EUDP Secretariat publishes calls for proposals twice a year (spring and autumn), although the frequency depends on the amount of funding to be leveraged. Each call specifies in detail what is required of applicants. The calls are open calls where applicants are encouraged to display their own ideas and project proposals based on new technology and related business plans. Foreign companies, research institutions and universities are allowed to participate in EUDP-projects and to receive funding on an equal footing with Danish participants as long as the lead partner in the project is based in Denmark.

Earmarked funding
In exceptional cases where there is a political aspiration to provide direct stimulus to a specific field of technology in a national context, earmarked funding is provided through the annual Financial Act. Such funds are outlined in dedicated calls. However, these funds are administered in the same way as other EUDP funds and it is the board of EUDP that decides which projects will receive funding.