Discovery Phase Projects must be led by an Ofgem licensed electricity or gas distribution network, transmission operator, or Electricity System Operator (ESO).

They are encouraged to have other Project Partners in addition to the mandatory requirements listed. The Project Partners can include a variety of third-party innovators such as:

• start-ups
• SMEs
• suppliers
• academics
• independent researchers
• disruptors
• other licenced energy network companies

If you meet one of the above descriptions and would like to find an energy network to partner with, please see more details of the programme here and contact the Ofgem SIF team or the Innovate UK Business Connect energy team. Ofgem are looking for proposals that involve all the necessary stakeholders relevant to the proposed innovation, and particularly encourage Projects working with suitable SME technology developers and growth companies.

All of the themes in Round 5 have some additional partner requirements: these are detailed below.

Your Project must:

• have total eligible Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) requested funding of no more than £150,000, exclusive of VAT
• provide a minimum of 10% of total Project costs as a compulsory contribution from private funds
• start after 1 January 2026
• end by 31 May 2026
• be completed within the five month window

You are required to fulfil all monitoring requirements, for example, end of phase meetings and Project show and tells; further guidance will be provided.

This competition is delivered by Innovate UK in partnership with the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem). It is funded by the Ofgem Strategic Innovation Fund, which aims to deliver net zero at lowest cost to consumers and support innovative businesses to grow and scale.

Each Round 5 Innovation Challenge as listed in the Strategic Innovation Fund – Round 5 Innovation Challenge document has different aims.

You must select which challenge your Project is working on. There are seven challenge areas in the Discovery Phase:

• Challenge 1: Advanced energy transmission and networks
• Challenge 2: Dynamic modelling
• Challenge 3: High energy demand point integration
• Challenge 4: Consumer centric grid expansion
• Challenge 5: Enhanced system visibility and control
• Challenge 6: Green gas
• Challenge 7: Whole system optimisation

Your Project must meet the eligibility criteria of the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF), as stipulated in the SIF Governance Document.

Applicants must demonstrate that the Projects deliver a net benefit to consumers through:

• financial cost reductions, for example, in operating the network, energy bills, users of network services
• emission reduction
• access to revenues for network users
• introducing new products, process and services to the UK energy market

Your Project must focus on network innovation that can benefit GB energy network infrastructure, consumers, operation, and utilisation.

You must address:

• users and their context
• constraints affecting the problem or wider context
• opportunities for improvement
• environmental impacts

At this stage a Project Direction will be issued for the Discovery Phase only. Successful applicants will be invited to apply for Alpha Phase.

The Discovery Phase of a Project will define the problem and the value in solving it. It will also facilitate a common understanding of consumers’ and network users’ needs from the innovation and identifying constraints.

The Alpha Phase will focus on preparing and testing solutions that are identified during the Discovery Phase, ahead of any large-scale demonstration of the Project in the Beta Phase.

You must select the primary Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) Innovation Challenge focus theme that your Project is targeting.

Challenge 1: Advanced energy transmission and networks:

• Theme 1: Advanced semiconductor technologies for power networks
• Theme 2: Superconducting technologies for high efficiency transmission
• Theme 3: Wireless power transmission for grid flexibility

Challenge 2: Dynamic modelling:

• Theme 1: Advanced grid simulation and optimisation
• Theme 2: Control strategies for coordination and dispatch of flexible resources

Challenge 3: High energy demand point integration:

• Theme 1: Improving demand centre energy forecasting and understanding load growth
• Theme 2: Implementing flexibility and efficiency strategies to reduce grid impact
• Theme 3: Accelerating grid connections and infrastructure scaling

Challenge 4: Consumer centric grid expansion:

• Theme 1: Scalable technical innovations for grid expansion
• Theme 2: Community engagement and public acceptance strategies

Challenge 5: Enhanced system visibility and control:

• Theme 1: Advanced monitoring and automated grid control
• Theme 2: Enhancing control room operations

Challenge 6: Green gas

• Theme 1: Network integration and infrastructure readiness
• Theme 2: System flexibility and balancing
• Theme 3: Storage and injection management

Challenge 7: Whole system optimisation

• Theme 1: Whole system modelling and scenario analysis
• Theme 2: Development and demonstration of high impact multivector configurations

Any proposed Project against any of the themes must also consider contributing to the key cross cutting areas:

• customer focussed: the SIF is funded via customer bills so all Projects must ensure the solution is inclusive and accessible to diverse customer and consumer segments through relevant partnerships with third parties, stakeholder engagement and user centric design principles, with the aim of saving customers money
• scalability and replicability: developing solutions that can be deployed across multiple regions and scaled to meet future grid needs
• data and digitalisation: harness digitalisation and implement Energy Data Best Practice across all areas
• shared learning: not all innovation Projects will lead to deployment, the learning and how it is shared openly across the energy sector and wider is critical
• skills and capability: consider throughout the Project where upskilling and new capability development is needed and signalling those needs to relevant third parties like academics, training institutes and key supply chain partners
• supply chains: assess the deliverability and scalability of the solution across the GB network from a supply chain perspective including maturity of supply chains, potential vulnerabilities such as labour requirements, logistical challenges and environmental risks
• resilience: strengthening the adaptability and security of energy networks to withstand extreme weather events, cyber threats, and fluctuations in energy demand

The eligibility requirements for the Discovery Phase Challenges are different for each Challenge theme:

Challenge 1: Advanced energy transmission and networks:

• Theme 1: A research organisation or industry partner with experience in power electronics for grid applications
• Theme 2: A research institution or industry partner with expertise in superconducting technologies
• Theme 3: A research organisation or technology provider in wireless power systems

Challenge 2: Dynamic modelling:

• Theme 1: A research institution or technology provider with expertise in real time network modelling, forecasting and optimisation
• Theme 2: Organisations with capability in dynamic modelling, network control or automation for resource coordination

Challenge 3: High energy demand point integration:

• Theme 1: A research institution or industry partner with expertise in energy forecasting, demand modelling, and load profiling
• Theme 2: A research institution or technology provider in demand side response and grid flexibility
• Theme 3: A policy expert, regulatory specialist, or network planner with experience in grid connection processes and infrastructure planning

Challenge 4: Consumer centric grid expansion:

• Theme 1: Consumer representative organisation
• Theme 2: Consumer representative organisation

Challenge 5: Enhanced system visibility and control

• Theme 1: A research institution, technology provider, or grid analytics specialist with expertise in real time monitoring, AI driven diagnostics, and grid automation
• Theme 2: A research institution, control room specialist, or automation solution provider with expertise in digital twins and operator decision support tools for complex environments

Challenge 6: Green gas

• Theme 1: A research institution, technology provider, or infrastructure specialist with expertise in gas blending, pressure management, and grid adaptation
• Theme 2: A research institution, flexibility solutions expert, or control system developer specialising in real time forecasting, injection control, and balancing strategies
• Theme 3: A research organisation or technology developer with expertise in gas compression, storage, and injection management

Challenge 7: Whole system optimisation

• Theme 1: National Energy System Operator (NESO)
• Theme 2: A technology provider or Research institution specialising in cross sector energy modelling and NESO

You are encouraged to have other Project Partners in addition to the mandatory requirements listed above.

Your Project Partners can include a variety of third party innovators such as:

• start-ups
• SMEs
• suppliers
• academics
• independent researchers
• disruptors
• other licenced energy network companies

This list is not intended to be exhaustive.

At this stage a Project Direction will be issued for the Discovery Phase only. Successful applicants will be invited to apply for Alpha Phase.

The Discovery Phase of a Project will define the problem and the value in solving it. It will also facilitate a common understanding of consumers’ and network users’ needs from the innovation and identifying constraints.

The Alpha Phase will focus on preparing and testing solutions that are identified during the Discovery Phase, ahead of any large-scale demonstration of the Project in the Beta Phase.

Discovery phase will have many projects, feasibility studies lasting 2-3 months, with funding of up to £150k per project. Alpha will have fewer projects, which will be proof of concept, lasting up to 6 months, with up to £500k per project. Beta will have a few large scale, real world demonstrator developments lasting up to 5 years, which will receive multi million pound funding. Further information can be found at the Ofgem SIF programme page.

A pre-recorded briefing event and slides will be available soon.

If you would like help to find a project partner, including if you have an idea and would like to find an Ofgem licensee to work with, see more details of the programme here and contact the Ofgem SIF team here. You can also contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Energy team.