Informacija o Skladu za inovacije

Sklad za inovacije (Innovation Fund) je okvirno določen s spremembo Direktive 2003/87/ES za krepitev stroškovno učinkovitega zmanjšanja emisij in nizkoogljičnih naložb ter Sklepa (EU) 2015/1814 (člen 10a(8)), sprejeto marca 2018 (slovenska verzija spremembe direktive; ll. 10a(8) je na str. 14 – 15.), podrobna pravila pa opredeljuje DELEGIRANA UREDBA KOMISIJE z dne 26.2.2019 o dopolnitvi Direktive 2003/87/ES Evropskega parlamenta in Sveta v zvezi z delovanjem sklada za inovacije, ki jo je komisija sprejela 26.2.2019 (predpis Sklada za inovacije v slovenščini in angleški original). Načrtuje se, da bo podpora sklada za inovacije združena s podporo, ki jo zagotavljajo drugi programi EU in države članice.

Začetek delovanja sklada je predviden v letu 2020, glede na zahtevo EP naj bi bil do 31. 12. 2020 objavljen prvi razpis za 1 milijardo evrov sredstev, v naslednjih letih pa se bo predvidoma razdelilo še 9 milijard evrov sredstev (odvisno od cene emisijskih kuponov in posledično prilivov v sklad). Poleg tega Ministrstvo za okolje in prostor načrtuje, da s sredstvi slovenskega Sklada za podnebne spremembe, ki ga upravlja, podpre pripravo ambicioznih projektov za inovacijski sklad EU, kasneje pa prispeva del sredstev za sofinanciranje izbranih projektov. 

V delegirani uredbi je med drugim zapisano:

 »Podpora nizkoogljičnim tehnološkim inovacijam je ključna za dosego podnebnih ciljev in ciljev konkurenčnosti EU, opredeljenih v energetski uniji in prenovljeni strategiji na področju industrijske politike. Sklad za inovacije bo orodje za prikaz nizko- in brez- ogljičnih tehnologij, ki bodo omogočile prehod na razogljičeno gospodarstvo, kot je določeno v dolgoročni strategiji za zmanjšanje emisij. Hkrati bo povečal konkurenčnost podjetij EU, tako da jim bo pomagal doseči vodilni položaj v svetu na področju teh tehnologij. Sklad za inovacije bo podprl cilje strateškega načrta za energetsko tehnologijo (načrt SET) ter cilje, določene v javno-zasebnih partnerstvih na podlagi okvirnega programa EU za raziskave (Obzorje 2020), zlasti SPIRE (Trajnostna procesna industrija z učinkovito rabo virov in energije), Skupnem podjetju za industrijske panoge, ki temeljijo na rabi biomase, ter Skupnem podjetju za gorivne celice in vodik. Hkrati bi moral sklad za inovacije prispevati tudi k prihodnjim partnerstvom in misijam v okviru programa Obzorje skladno s cilji Direktive 2003/87/ES.

Cilj sklada za inovacije je izvesti uspešne demonstracijske projekte za prelomne nizkoogljične tehnološke inovacije. Sklad si prizadeva izbrati inovativne in izvedljive demonstracijske projekte ter prispevati k premostitvi njihove finančne vrzeli.«

Okvirni dnevni red

9:30 – 10:30

V uvodnem delu dogodka bo predstavnik sklada, g. Roman Doubrava iz DG Climate Action, podal osnovne informacije o tem inštrumentu in odgovarjal na vprašanja.

10:30 – 15:30 (z dvema odmoroma)

Osrednji del bo namenjen predstavitvi slovenskih predlogov za projekte, ki bi se lahko sofinancirali s sredstvi sklada, in sicer predvsem s strani podjetij in raziskovalnih organizacij. Predstavitve se nanašajo na osnovne značilnosti projektov, kot so: inovativne tehnologije in končni produkti, njihov TRL, pričakovana zmanjšanj emisij TGP in časovnica razvoja projekta.

15:00 - 16:00

Zaključna razprava se bo nanašala na pripravo prvega razpisa: ključne teme, izzivi in dileme, specifične za posamezne sektorje ali za več sektorjev.

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Primere projektnih predlogov, ki bi jih želeli predstaviti lahko še vedno prijavite ga. Darji Piciga do 16. 10. 2019 na naslov darja.piciga@gov.si.

Končna agenda s seznamom posameznih projektov, ki bodo predstavljeni na dogodku bo objavljena 18. 10. 2019.

Dogodek bo potekal v angleškem jeziku.

Usmeritve in vprašanja za udeležence

Presentation of key features of projects in your sector

Describe the project in relation to the objectives and requirements of the Innovation Fund:

• What is the innovative technology and key elements that need demonstration before commercialization? What are the products (final, intermediate or by-products)? What is the technological readiness level of the project and of its different distinct elements? How innovative is the project in comparison to the state-of-the-art?
• What are the capital expenditure, operational costs and benefits over 10-year period related to the innovative project? What is the level of certainty over envisaged costs and benefits? What are the key variables influencing them?
• What is the financing gap and how do you expect to address it?
• What is the GHG emission reduction potential of the project in comparison to a conventional project of the same scale?
• What is the size of the potential market of the products (final, intermediate and by-products)?
• What is the expected project development timeline? Has the project already done pre-/feasibility study, FEED study? What steps need to be taken/conditions met before Final Investment Decision?
• Is the project dependent on other projects, development of infrastructure or adoption/amendment of certain EU or national regulation?

Questions for discussion

Selection criteria

• Effectiveness of GHG avoidance potential
  • Will the existing monitoring, reporting, verification (MRV) requirements under the EU Emission Trading System (ETS) be applicable to innovative plants in your sector? If not, what further guidance needs to be prepared for a fair evaluation of the GHG emission reduction potentials of different projects in your sector?
  • Which role do you see for life-cycle assessment (LCA) in calculating and verifying the GHG emission avoidance potential? What are the critical points that need to be considered when undertaking an LCA for projects in your sector?
• Degree of innovation
  • How can the degree of innovation in comparison to the state-of-the art be best evaluated?
• Project maturity
  • Which criteria should be used to evaluate project maturity?
    • Business plan, capacity of the promoters behind the project
    • Financial structure (private investors, other public support, strength of commitments)
    • Societal acceptance
    • Legal setup and permitting
    • Stage of project development (concluded feasibility studies, FEED, etc.)
  • What are the essential elements that need to be in place for a project to be able to reach financial close within 4 years? Should a completed feasibility study be made a condition for applying for the Innovation Fund?
  • What are the key risks and barriers to implementation, respectively pre-conditions for projects to go ahead?
• Wide-spread application
  • Should projects indicate their potential market and at what level (European/global), or should this be determined by market statistics? If the latter, what are the most reliable sources for your sector?
• Relevant cost calculation
  • Are there any specific issues that sector projects may face with the application of the definition of relevant cost from the Regulation?
  • Are the conventional production costs easy to estimate with confidence? If not, can price of conventional product be used as a comparator?
  • What are the key variable factors determining the financial gap?
  • What are the financial risks and how best they can be evaluated?
• What weights, if any, should be applied to different selection criteria?

Milestones

• What is the expected timeline to financial close and entry into operation for innovative projects in your sector?
• What are the key milestones before financial close, e.g. feasibility or FEED study, permitting, State-Aid approval, etc. and before full entry into operation, e.g. how long are the construction, testing and commissioning periods?
• How should the grant be optimally disbursed over the project life cycle? To what milestones can/should disbursements be linked?

Project development assistance

• Will project development assistance (PDA) be useful for projects in the sector? If yes, what types of assistance?
• Should there be maximum amounts for different types of PDA and what would these levels be, taking into account that PDA support will count towards the 60% maximum support by the Innovation Fund?
• Should projects be required to publish the results of any studies done with PDA, if they decide not to apply for Innovation Fund full support or are discontinued?
• Should FEED be financed by PDA or only after successful application for an Innovation Fund award?

Knowledge-sharing requirements

• What type of technical, economic, project management, regulatory and permitting information will be useful to share with other projects from the sector in order to speed up the uptake of the innovative technologies and to advance the regulatory environment without at the same time compromising the legitimate intellectual property rights, the competitiveness and the first-mover advantage of the companies involved in the projects?
• What types of knowledge-sharing activities should the implementing body organize for projects benefiting from Innovation Fund (and other EU programmes) and for the general public?
• What should be the form of knowledge sharing tools that would be useful for the market?