Energy Accelerator for Non-Domestic Buildings Energy Innovation Agency
The Energy Accelerator for Non-Domestic Buildings will accelerate the deployment of energy innovations that enable commercial and public buildings to decarbonise rapidly.
The Energy Innovation Agency, a unique partnership between the public, private and academic sectors in GM, is tasked with accelerating carbon emission reductions in GM and transitioning the city-region to a carbon-neutral economy by 2038 and bridging the energy innovation gap.
It supports energy innovators, with low-carbon solutions, to scale their innovative products, services, and businesses in Greater Manchester, by connecting them with end-users and increasing deployment of decarbonising solutions.
The challenge
Overreliance on fossil fuels for energy generation and heating is a major contributor to climate change, is economically, socially, and environmentally unsustainable, and is now exacerbating a cost-of-living crisis. To reduce the impacts of climate change, the cost-of-living crisis, and make energy fairer for all, we need to make better use of energy, making it more resilient, more sustainable, and more affordable.
The project
The Energy Accelerator for Non-Domestic Buildings seeks to remove barriers to deployment for end users by reducing risks from early adoption, and remove barriers to commercialisation for start-ups, by facilitating and funding real-world demonstrator projects.
The project will support the development, testing, and deployment of energy efficiency, low carbon heat, and renewable energy solutions in Greater Manchester (GM), attracting more innovative businesses to grow here.
Project solutions that will be tested and deployed include:
- building fabric solutions to improve building energy efficiency.
- smart, digital energy management software systems to reduce building energy use.
- electric heating solutions to reduce the use of gas heating systems.
- renewable energy solutions to increase clean energy generation and use.
The future
There are four focus areas, aligned to the Greater Manchester 5-year Environment Plan:
- The decarbonisation of heat
- Energy generation and storage
- Low-carbon transport
- Energy diversity and flexibility
The energy accelerator will create up to 20 low-carbon demonstrator projects, extending the impact of our existing service, the validation and scale-up service, by matching innovators with end-users. It will run a series of events to draw out the energy challenges faced by different end-users and hear pitches from innovators with solutions.
The service offers businesses access to a wide-ranging partner support network providing a comprehensive innovator journey to commercialisation and deployment, attracting more innovative businesses to Greater Manchester, and scaling the low-carbon sector while decarbonising commercial and public sector buildings.