Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 2 – Collaborative R&D

The Department for Transport will work with Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, to invest £12 million in innovative feasibility studies and pre-deployment projects. This competition is part of a suite of interventions to be launched by the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE). UK SHORE aims to transform the UK into a global leader in the design and manufacturing of clean maritime technology.

The Clean Maritime Demonstration Round 2 competition has two strands:

• Strand 1: Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 2 – Feasibility
• Strand 2: Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 2 – Collaborative R&D (this strand)

Funding is available in strand 2 to support agile development and pre-deployment testing of clean maritime technologies.

Your project must:

• have total costs between £100,000 and £3 million
• end by 31 August 2023
• carry out all of its project work in the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in the UK

To lead a project or your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size, and must collaborate with at least one other UK registered organisation.

Your project must design, develop and test novel clean maritime technologies focused for on-vessel technologies or shoreside infrastructure including at ports and harbours.

If your project is focused on on-vessel technologies, you must only involve factory or dry dock testing. Your project must not plan to test technologies in the water as part of this project. In water demonstrations will be part of future projects which may be funded as part of later CMDC competitions.

You must plan for the real world demonstration or deployment developed in your project to be operational in water by March 2025.

Your project must:

• underpin an at scale technology demonstration later in 2023 or after, by delivering a meaningful technology, route to market, or supply chain innovation
• achieve market potential through a clear strategy for commercialising the technology and the products, demonstrating the potential for significant value to the UK
• deliver emissions reduction by demonstrating a significant greenhouse gas reduction
• bring together a team with the necessary expertise and experience to successfully deliver the project according to its objectives, and include a representative end user such as vessel operators, ports or harbour authorities

Technologies for all sizes and categories of maritime vessel are in scope. Solutions can be suitable for one target size of vessel or multiple. Pleasure and commercial vessels are in scope.

Where a project intends to utilise a vessel, the vessel should be a United Kingdom Ship, as defined in 85(2) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, or you must provide justification for use of a non-United Kingdom Ship in your application.

All ports and harbours are in scope, including infrastructure for freight, passenger, pleasure and commercial vessels.

We strongly encourage projects from around the UK to support boosting jobs and economic growth, including from ports, vessel operators, vessel manufacturers and their supply chain. We welcome projects from areas with existing clean maritime expertise or co-located in clusters of renewable energy production and usage including hydrogen.

Your project can focus on one or more of the following technology themes.

Prioritised technology themes:

• pilot fuel free hydrogen internal combustion engine technologies for maritime applications
• whole-ship energy efficiency design and integration
• safe on-board storage of hydrogen and ammonia
• larger (2.5 Mega Watt plus) marinised fuel cell systems
• small craft alternative for fuel bunkering and charging

Other technologies

Vessel low and zero emission technologies:

• vessel propulsion and auxiliary engines, for example, battery, fuel cell, and internal combustion engines using low or zero carbon alternative fuels such as hydrogen, methanol or ammonia, including hybrids and engines capable of using multiple fuels including zero emission options.
• wind propulsion, including soft-sail, fixed-sail, rotor, kite and turbine technologies, targeting a range of ship types from small vessels to large cargo carriers, both as primary and auxiliary propulsion.
• low carbon energy storage and management
• physical connections to shoreside power or alternative fuels, including fuelling lines
• enabling technologies such as motors, drives, sensor and power electronics

Port and shoreside, including offshore solutions:

• shoreside low and zero carbon fuelling including bunkering of such fuels
• charging infrastructure and management
• low and zero emission shoreside power solutions, such as enabling docked vessels to turn off their conventional power supply for ancillary systems
• physical connections to shoreside power or alternative fuels, including fuelling lines
• shoreside renewable energy generation at the port to supply vessels
• zero emission shoreside power supply for vessels, including grid or renewable energy supply
• low carbon fuel production, such as hydrogen, methanol, ammonia
• zero emission infrastructure, including stationary assets for freight handling and port operations

A live briefing event will be held on 9th June: click here to register to attend. The event is in Liverpool but you may also attend virtually.