Dutch DEI scheme opens grant round for CO2 reducing innovations

DEI+ grant module

For years, the DEI scheme has offered grants for innovative pilot or demonstration projects leading to CO₂ reduction (in the Netherlands). It distinguishes between different themes. The recent grant round from November 2023 covers the following themes:

• Energy efficiency.
  • This theme involves projects aimed at making production processes more energy-efficient (i.e. not buildings). This may involve existing processes, but also new processes if they are more efficient than the current state-of-the-art.
• Circular Economy.
  • This theme focuses on reduced consumption of fossil raw materials or replacement by secondary raw materials (e.g. bio-based raw materials), waste reduction, recovery, collection/sorting and making it suitable for reuse or recycling. New is that it may now also involve the processing of own waste streams, or replacement of primary raw materials by recycled raw materials. Only large projects (from 3 million euros in grants) are eligible.
• Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS).
  • This concerns capture, transport, application or storage of CO₂. Projects must be aimed at reducing industrial CO₂ emissions, meeting future carbon needs or ‘negative’ emission techniques. A new feature is that demonstration projects are now also allowed to apply.
• Local infrastructure.
  • This refers to demonstration projects focusing on local energy infrastructure of an open/public nature (such as distribution networks, steam networks, industrial infrastructure, innovative heat networks or district heating).
• Promotion of energy from renewable sources.
  • This concerns the production, storage and integration of energy from wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal, biomass, landfill gas, biogas and sewage gas, among others. Landscape/spatial integration can be part of this. New is that projects around biofuels (e.g. biokerosene) or energy storage are also eligible.
• Flexibilisation of the energy system:
  • pilot projects aimed at preventing grid congestion and other imbalances using installations or vehicles (via energy storage, conversion, off-grid supply, reactive or real-time demand control and so on).
• Other CO₂-reducing measures.
  • This residual category offers space for projects that fall outside one of the other DEI+ themes (incl. ‘Hydrogen & Green Chemistry’, and ‘Natural gas-free homes, neighbourhoods, residential buildings and utility buildings’).

Reduction targets of 2030… and beyond

The goal of the DEI+ scheme was always to stimulate innovation to reach the 2030 targets for CO₂ reduction in the Netherlands. The development of a pilot towards a fully ‘mature’ technology typically needs more time than what is available until 2030. In that regard, the scope of the implementation of the technology for the pilot or demonstration should be that it will provide a contribution to the GHG reductions in the Netherlands within 10 years of the start of the project. This shift in focus is especially good news for projects that are very innovative and will need more time to come to a fully mature implementation.

Grant amounts and conditions

The amount of the DEI+ grant is determined per project. The grant usually reimburses around 25% of the project costs. But several exceptions to that rule are possible (such as an extra 5% or 10% mark-up for costs incurred by a medium or small company, respectively, or a possible increase to 80% for research organisations. Very interesting: the maximum grant amounts have been substantially increased! For example, the grant for a DEI+ pilot project can be up to 25 million euros (in previous rounds: maximum 15 million euros). And for DEI+ demonstration projects, the maximum grant amount has even been doubled to 30 million euros!

Further of note: only Dutch companies can apply for this grant. Cooperation with other parties is allowed (but not mandatory). A project must be able to start within 6 months after the grant decision, and may have a maximum duration of 4 years.

Application deadlines and grant budget

The new DEI+ grant round is open for applications from 21 November 2023 until 29 August 2024 (17:00) at the latest. But please note that applications can only be made as long as the grant budget stretches. This totals 141 million euros for all seven themes mentioned above combined.

Finally: the earlier DEI+ round for ‘Hydrogen & Green Chemistry’ is still open for applications. That round still runs until 25 June 2024 at the latest (with its own budget of 40 million euros). For the sake of completeness, we note that no applications can currently be submitted for the DEI theme ‘Natural gas-free homes, neighbourhoods, residential buildings and utility buildings’.

What can PNO do for you?

Do you have plans for a pilot or demonstration project in line with the themes of the DEI+ scheme? And would you like to know whether you stand a chance of receiving a grant? Our experts will be happy to tell you more about the conditions. They have years of experience with DEI grants, so do not hesitate to contact us.