MissionGreenFuels - our partnership and roadmap
The MissionGreenFuels partnership was established as a part of the Danish Governments strategy:“Green solutions of the future – Strategy for investments in green research, technology, and innovation” (September 2020).
The MissionGreenFuels partnership is one of four InnoMissions and focuses on how to fulfil the Danish, European and global climate goals, specifically a 70% reduction by 2030 and net zero by 2050 by decarbonising the transport, aviation and shipping sector through green fuels. A fundamental governance principle in MissionGreenFuels is a system-wide focus on a portfolio across knowledge domains, actors, sectors, and value chains.
The MissionGreenFuels partnership addresses different technological challenges of green fuels in a focused and coordinated way, using a roadmap to align and guide research and innovation activities, and ensuring knowledge sharing that identifies and builds on synergies whilst avoiding lock-ins.
The vision for the MissionGreenFuels partnership is to contribute substantially to the decarbonization of the transport, aviation and shipping sector and to support Danish research, innovation, growth, job creation and export potential within the field of green fuels.
What is called for?
The MissionGreenFuels partnership invests in ambitious, cross-cutting research and innovation projects that can create new, concrete solutions to issues and challenges towards 2030 and 2050. We seek projects that contribute to the overall MissionGreenFuels vision and roadmap.
We are calling for projects under the following theme:
Sustainability and system integration
We expect to fund 2-4 projects with investment from 6-10 mio. DKK per project.
System integration is pivotal for harnessing the full potential of renewable energy (RE) sources in the future Danish energy system. The transition from fossil fuels to 100% RE introduces challenges and increases the complexity level due to the fluctuating nature of RE. Flexibility is key to accelerate the transition by matching variable energy production with consumption. Flexibility can be delivered by starting and stopping energy producing and consuming units as well as by energy storage such, as batteries, thermal energy storages, gas caverns etc.
Power-to-X (PtX) holds a great potential to deliver flexibility by consuming RE during high production periods and minimizing consumption on calm and cloudy days. PtX fuels (e.g. hydrogen, methanol, ammonia etc.) are efficient storage and transportation media in comparison to electricity. Consequently, PtX fuels with low carbon footprints can profoundly decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors including heavy transport, aviation and industry.
To realise the flexibility potential both PtX plants and the associated energy infrastructure must be designed and optimized for flexible operation without deteriorating the lifespan and performance of the components. This calls for optimization work on electrolysis and catalysis units, intelligent control management and flow measurements, more flexible and intelligent storage solutions under varying pressure conditions, and flexible off-taker markets of all output streams. It is essential to maximize the energy efficiency and reuse/recycling of PtX materials, which also can improve lifespan and business case.
We look for innovative solutions that can realize the flexibility potential of PtX with minimal environmental footprint of PtX fuels.
Sustainability must be an integrated part of any system solution. This includes full life cycle assessment of greenhouse gas emissions, environmental impact assessment and adoption of proper suitability criteria impacting solutions. System integration should include sustainability considerations. This will also entail stand-alone project focussing solely on sustainability through development, adoption and internationalisation of methods, standards and application.
Who can apply?
Projects should include at least one organization which is part of the MissionGreenFuels partnership. Eligible organizations are research institutions or private/public institutions in or outside Denmark, directly involved in the project activities.
Any Danish or international legal entity, directly involved in the project activities, is eligible to apply to participate in and receive funding. The legal entity acting as main applicant should have a Danish CVR number.
To receive funding from MissionGreenFuels you must be a partner in the partnership.
Organisations that are not already part of MissionGreenFuels can request to become partner.
Request to become partnerWhat and how much can be applied for?
Total budget for this call is minimum 20 mio. DKK, conditioned by sufficient quality within the field of applications. Investment per project ranges from 6-10 mio. DKK. MissionGreenFuels covers a maximum of 75% of the total project cost. Applicants must ensure that each partner follow the rules for maximum investment rates as detailed in guidelines for InnoMission projects (see guidelines here).
The MissionGreenFuels partnership does not accept applications where a successful outcome is dependent on receiving additional funding for further research and development (e.g. projects that involve financing in multiple phases).
The same project cannot apply for funding in both this call and pool 3 solutions.
Co-financing of salaries and other expenses that are directly linked to the implementation of the project can be included in the budget.
Evaluation criteria
All applications will be evaluated on:
- Quality of the idea – the quality of the research and innovation
- Impact – value creation during and after the project
- Quality of execution – efficiency in the project execution and the implementation of the results
A detailed description of these criteria can be found in the assessment criteria document below. International peers will evaluate these criteria.
- Strategic fit to the MissionGreenFuels vision and roadmap
Applications will be evaluated by the MissionGreenFuels Board of Directors regarding the strategic fit to the MissionGreenFuels’ vision and roadmap (please make sure to address this in the application in section 4 “Strategic fit to MissionGreenFuels vision and roadmap”).
This includes, but is not limited to, that the project:
- clearly contributes to creating societal value and value for the MissionGreenFuels partnership
- describes clearly the direction towards the Danish 2030 and/or 2050 climate goals, i.e. total time horizon and investment need for the potential CO2 reduction and long-term plan for the proposed solution
- contributes to maturing the entire Danish value chain
- clearly describes how the project fits into the EU legal framework
- can be scaled internationally
- contributes to CO2 reduction, job creation in Denmark and export potential
- contribute to lowering overall system costs in the production, distribution, and utilisation of green fuels.
Evaluation process
Applications must be submitted via the “Filkassen”. The call opens in August, 2024.
Criteria 1-3 will be evaluated by at least two international external experts. Criteria 4 will be evaluated by the Partnership Board of Directors. Please notice that criteria 4 is crucial for the evaluation and poor evaluation of this section alone can decide whether the applicant will receive funding or not.
Before proposals are subjected to review by external experts, the Partnership Director will ensure that the proposals comply with the formal requirements described in the call text. Applications which do not comply with the requirements will receive administrative rejection before subjected to external review.
Projects with the highest total score from the international peer reviews, will be evaluated by the MissionGreenFuels Board of Directors. If there are more than 15 applications, a number of applications that fits 4x the size of pool 2.5 (4×20 mio DKK) will be evaluated by the Board of Directors based on the highest scores form the international peers. If fewer than 15 applications are received, all will be evaluated by the MissionGreenFuels Board of Directors.
The members of the Board of Directors can be found here. Applicants are asked to indicate whether they see any conflict of interest with any of these.
It is expected that the project applications will receive either invitation for investment negotiations or a rejection of the application in December 2024, after which the investment negotiations can be initiated with an expected project start in Q2 of 2025.
Appliction documents
Application documents:
- Application template please save the file as MGF_pool2.5_[project name]_[name of applicant]
- Budget template
- Appendix A – Figures, pictures, tables
- Appendix B – Partner motivation
- Appendix C – Key persons
- Appendix D – Gantt template
Other relevant documents:
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FAQ
Find answers to frequently asked questions about MissionGreenFuels calls, including how to apply, requirements, and how projects contribute to the mission.
Go to Q&AImportant information
Please pay attention the deadlines and formalities. Below is listed the relevant datas and contact information
Important dates
Deadline for application: at 11:59 AM on October 9, 2024.
Expected response date: End of December 2024.
Expected earliest launch date: Q2, 2025.
Contact information
Please visit our Q&A page for overall questions about the calls.
For any further questions, please contact the MissionGreenFuels secretariat at missiongreenfuels@aau.dk.