The aim of this competition is to support outstanding innovation projects that will impact on Southwest Wales. The pilot – South West Wales Launchpad Net Zero iX Challenges, aims to foster collaborative partnerships between a challenge holder & solution provider to deliver a project that that will accelerate the adoption of industrial circular economy, net zero or decarbonisation innovations within and across sectors for the Net Zero Industry launchpad in Southwest Wales.
The challenge holder for this Innovation Exchange (iX) challenge operates a mixed use rural estate incorporating farming, heritage buildings, holiday accommodation and event facilities. With rising energy costs, limited grid capacity, planning constraints, and complex licensing barriers, the business requires a robust, practical and impartial master plan for transitioning to a resilient, low carbon, long term energy system. This includes modelling an optimal mix of renewable energy options, understanding planning and regulatory constraints, and creating a decision support tool that guides investment sequencing and mitigates risk.
The estate requires a holistic, geospatially informed, techno‑economic energy strategy that determines:
- The optimal combination of renewable energy technologies for the estate, including micro‑hydro, solar PV, solar thermal, wind, biomass, heat pumps, battery and thermal storage.
- How to phase the deployment of these technologies to reduce risk, maximise return and minimise planning or regulatory barriers.
- How to integrate existing assets (e.g., an established micro‑hydro system and biomass boilers) into a future‑proofed model.
- How to navigate complex constraints, including:
- stringent planning requirements for listed buildings and rural landscapes
- drainage (SAB) approvals
- Natural Resources Wales licensing for hydro
- grid capacity limits, standing charges and connection delays
- seasonal and event‑driven demand fluctuations
- Whether generation should be prioritised for on‑site use, export, or storage, and under what conditions.
- Consider productive and economically viable uses of excess on-site renewable generation, where compatible with site constraints.
- How to minimise the risk of costly mis‑steps caused by vendor‑driven recommendations.
- Explicitly determine the maximum coincident electrical demand under realistic operating scenarios and confirm whether the existing or planned grid connection is sufficient, including identification of any required demand management strategies.
- Evaluate the current metering and connection structure (e.g. multiple MPANs) and identify opportunities to optimise configuration, including consolidation, sub-metering or reconfiguration, to reduce standing charges, improve tariff access and enhance operational efficiency.
The challenge holder seeks a decision‑support framework and master plan that:
- is impartial and vendor‑agnostic,
- provides a clear, sequenced investment roadmap, and
- offers guidance that other rural Welsh businesses could replicate.
If selected, the solution provider will be supported to apply for up to £25,000 grant funding to deliver a 3‑month project through the Innovation Funding Service (IFS). The funding will cover a 3-month project, the details of which will need to be refined with the challenge holder. It is recognised that the breadth of this challenge may require a collaborative approach between potential solution providers. Such an approach would be welcomed subject to discussion.
Solutions must fit within a maximum R&D budget of £25,000, covering delivery of a 3‑month pilot project. Proposals should demonstrate cost-effective pathways to scale.
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To lead a project as a solution provider your organisation must be a UK registered:
- micro, small or medium sized enterprise (SME)
- academic institution
- research and technology organisation (RTO)
- community interest company (CIC) or charity
Subcontractors are allowed in this competition: subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.
Grant funding in this competition is awarded as Minimal Financial assistance (MFA). This allows public bodies to award up to £315,000 to an enterprise in a 3-year rolling financial period. If your application is successful and you are invited to apply for grant funding you will be asked to declare previous funding received by you. This will form part of the financial checks ahead of Innovate UK making a formal grant offer.
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The solution should:
- Assess the entire estate’s energy demand profile, including seasonal variations, peak event loads and future‑growth scenarios (e.g., EV charging, additional accommodation or weddings).
- Include geospatial mapping of the estate, identifying optimal siting for generation and storage technologies.
- Provide a combined technology assessment, rather than single‑technology recommendations.
- Incorporate planning constraints (heritage buildings, visual impact, NRW licensing, drainage rules).
- Define a phased implementation strategy that minimises disruption, cost and planning risk.
- Include a decision‑support tool or dashboard, enabling the estate to test scenarios (e.g., adding/removing wind, heat pumps, battery storage).
- Present findings in a form that can be used to support future planning applications, grid discussions and investment cases.
- Consider resilience requirements, including provision for backup power (e.g. generator or hybrid solutions) to support critical loads during outages, particularly for event operations.
- Consider future-proofing of the energy system, including potential for microgrid operation (including islanding where appropriate), increased electrification, and emerging technologies, focusing on those with realistic deployment potential within a 5–10 year horizon.
- Deliver practical guidance that non‑technical users can follow.
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The solution must:
- Use quantitative modelling of electrical and thermal demand (hourly/seasonal variation).
- Model generation profiles for hydro, solar PV, solar thermal, wind and biomass, including sensitivity analysis.
- Include storage modelling: lithium‑ion or alternative technologies, off‑grid vs grid‑interactive modes.
- Integrate grid constraint modelling, including capacity thresholds, standing charge impacts, and import/export strategies.
- Identify regulatory triggers (e.g., SAB thresholds, NRW licensing requirements, planning burdens).
- Produce a final master plan with clear outputs:
- optimal technology mix
- expected performance
- costs, payback and ROI
- planning and regulatory pathway
- detailed sequencing
- Remain technology‑agnostic and free from commercial bias.
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The solution must:
- Be suitable for a rural, mixed‑use estate with agricultural activity, tourist accommodation, and heritage constraints.
- Consider:
- high rainfall (good hydro resource)
- limited grid availability and long‑distance cable routing via third‑party land
- multiple dispersed buildings
- low‑connectivity digital environment (no fibre broadband)
- Avoid invasive requirements on heritage buildings unless essential and justified.
- Be functional for varying occupancy conditions, including peak loads of 50+ guests during events.
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The solution must not:
- Provide single‑technology sales or vendor‑specific proposals.
- Recommend specific makes/models of equipment.
- Deliver installation or construction services (planning and design only).
- Ignore planning, environmental or grid constraints.
- Produce generic academic reports without actionable outputs.
- Propose approaches that require activities ineligible for MFA funding (e.g., primary agriculture production).
- Provide advice that cannot feasibly be implemented under real constraints of the site.
- Produce high-level or conceptual outputs that are not sufficiently detailed or quantified to directly inform real-world investment decisions.
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Successful applicants will have the opportunity to pitch to the challenge holder. The winning applicant will be eligible to apply for a project grant of up to £25,000 to deliver a 3‑month pilot.
There is significant potential for wider adoption: many rural Welsh estates face similar constraints (heritage buildings, planning challenges, poor grid connections, complex licensing). A successful methodology could be replicable across multiple sites in Wales and the UK.
The benefits package for a successful applicant may also include:
- Support from Innovate UK Business Connect
- Support in the development of a prototype or pilot
- Technical support
- Invitation to attend or present at Innovate UK Business Connect events
- A potential business collaboration
- Investor introductions (if investment is required)
- Support if any Innovate or similar competitions are relevant.