Energy Innovation Program | Clean Fuels and Industrial Fuel Switching

The Energy Innovation Program (EIP) advances clean energy technologies that will help Canada meet its climate change targets, while supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy. It funds research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) projects, and other related scientific activities (RSAs).

Managed by the Office of Energy Research and Development (OERD), EIP has an annual grants and contributions budget of approximately $24M per year to run targeted calls and other strategic collaborations and investment programs.

This call will provide the following funding amounts:

• A total of up to $50M over five years for industrial fuel switching and pre-commercial production of clean fuels.
• A total of up to $3M over five years for projects that support the development and upgrade of hydrogen codes and standards.

Future funding calls will be announced on the OERD Energy Innovation Program web page.

1.1 Call Overview

In its Net Zero by 2050 report released May 2021 Footnote1 , the International Energy Agency (IEA) states that almost 50% of CO2 emissions reductions required to create a net zero economy by 2050 will come from technologies currently at the prototype or demonstration stage, with this share being much higher for heavy industry. In Canada, heavy industry accounted for 77 megatonnes (Mt) CO2 eq. in 2019, representing 11% of Canada's total emissions Footnote2 . Funding solutions to reduce emissions in this sector will be critical to address hard-to-abate segments of industrial emissions and create pathways for the use of cleaner fuels.

Focus areas 1 and 2 will support technologies starting at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4 to 8. Focus area 3 will support projects starting at all TRLs. Commercial-scale and/or advanced projects with starting TRL 9 and beyond are excluded from this funding call.

Focus Area 1: Industrial Fuel Switching

This focus area supports projects that have the potential to significantly reduce emissions from industrial processes. This call seeks proposals for projects that enable the substitution of lower carbon fuels or feedstock (including electricity, hydrogen, biomass, biofuels, and gaseous fuels) in the following industrial sectors: chemicals and fertilizers, iron and steel, smelting and refining, and cement.

Completed projects are expected to achieve the following broad objectives:

• Understand properties of lower carbon fuels and their potential impact on existing industrial processes and systems.
• Advance innovative technologies or processes that enable the future uptake of lower carbon fuels, including retrofit or redesign required to adapt to the substitute fuels.
• Utilize lower carbon fuels or feedstock in existing industrial processes to reduce energy intensity and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Focus Area 2: Clean Fuels Production

This focus area supports projects for the pre-commercial development, advancement, and piloting of technologies that reduce the capital and operating costs of producing clean fuels.

Completed projects are expected to achieve the following broad objectives:

• Develop novel clean fuels production processes.
• Improve the process and efficiency of clean fuel production using advanced feedstock.
• Advance the usability of waste or underutilized feedstock.

Focus Area 3: Hydrogen Codes and Standards

Completed projects are expected to achieve the following broad objectives:

• Advance knowledge towards the update, harmonization, and/or development of codes and standards for the production, transportation, storage, and utilization of hydrogen.

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