The SEAI National Energy Research Development and Demonstration (RD&D) Funding Programme invests in innovative energy RD&D projects which contribute to Ireland's transition to a clean and secure energy future.

SEAI National Energy RD&D Funding Programme

Our key programme objectives include the following:

  • Accelerate the development and deployment in the Irish marketplace of competitive energy-related products, processes and systems
  • Support solutions that enable technical and other barriers to market uptake to be overcome
  • Grow Ireland's national capacity to access, develop and apply international class RD&D
  • Provide guidance and support to policy makers and public bodies through results, outcomes and learning from supported energy projects

The programme supports innovative and targeted actions in Research, Development & Demonstration to assist in the delivery of the following:

SEAI National Energy RD&D Funding Calls - 2020 Update

The programme has undergone considerable growth over the past two years, funding more than 100 projects to the value of 21 million during 2018 and 2019. This represents a significant increase in activities relative to previous years. We are now actively working with our parent government department to determine the likely programme budget for 2021 and beyond, to support the continued growth of the programme into the future. However, at this stage it is unlikely that we will hold a call in 2020.

Please keep an eye on this website for future updates or register to our research mailing list through which we provide updates on upcoming research calls and events.

Further details of projects funded under the programme can be found in SEAI's National Energy Research Database

2019 SEAI National Energy RD&D Funding Call

The 2019 programme call attracted great interest and as such was extremely competitive, with €11 million in funding awarded to 50 research projects. The 2019 programme was run with support from the following strategic co-funding partners: Gas Networks Ireland, ESB Group and the Geological Survey of Ireland.

Lead OrganisationLead Applicant Project Title
Astoneco Management Ltd John Aston Building a Social Licence to Operate: co-designing a near-neighbour - developer engagement process, and refining it to create win-win wind energy projects.
Brightwind Stephen O’Holleran Development of a data management platform and open-source data analysis library for wind & solar resource data.
Construction Support Services Garry Keegan Offshore Wind Farm Projects Community Acceptance and Stakeholder Engagement - Best Practice Handbook
Cork Institute of Technology Michael Murphy National Artificial Intelligent Dairy Energy Application (NAIDEA)
Cork Institute of Technology Paul O’Sullivan Project RESILIENCE
Dublin City University John Costello

Laser Ablation for Wind Turbine Blade Contaminant Classification, Quantification and Removal

Strategic Co-funding Partner: ESB Group
Dublin City University Michael Brandon LOHCell – Simplified on-demand utilisation of renewable energy stored by a virtual hydrogen carrier
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies Brian O’Reilly

DIG: De-risking Ireland’s Geothermal Energy Potential

Strategic Co-funding Partner: Geological Survey Ireland
EC Charging Theresa Keady EV Charge
ESRI John Curtis Electric vehicle potential within existing technical standards and commuting patterns
ESRI Muireann Lynch Identifying and overcoming societal barriers to sustainable energy adaptation
ESRI John Curtis Identifying non-financial barriers to energy efficiency residential retrofits in low income households
Fingleton White Stephen Morrin Domestic CHP Field Trial – Demonstrating Energy Savings and Environmental Benefits in a Real World Context
Gavin and  Doherty Geosolutions Ltd. James McAteer

ThermoWell - Thermal Resource Extraction from a Deep Standing Column Well

Strategic Co-funding Partner: Geological Survey Ireland
Gavin and Doherty Geosolutions Ltd. Paul Doherty I-MORE: Informing and Mapping the Offshore Renewable Environment
GeoServ Solutions Riccardo Pasquali

ShallowTHERM

Strategic Co-funding Partner: Geological Survey Ireland
GKinetic Energy Ltd Vincent McCormack Design, Build and Testing of a 1:20 Scale Model of a submerged 250 kW twin turbine system at the Ifremer Flume in Boulogne Sur Mer, France  
Integrated Environmental Solutions Ltd Ruth Kerrigan Enabling Smart Home Energy Responses (ESHER)
Integrated Environmental Solutions Ltd Ruth Kerrigan sECUre: eStablishing Energy Community Utilities for Remote Energy grids
Novo Grid Paul Manning Real Time State Estimation Demonstration on Irish Distribution Network
NUI Galway Miriam Byrne ALIVE - Assessing Indoor Environmental Quality and Energy Efficiency In a range of Naturally-Ventilated Buildings: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach
NUI Galway Rory Monaghan Feasibility of Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) in Ireland
NUI Galway Marie Coggins Health Impact Assessment of Deep Energy Renovations on Irish Domestic Dwellings - HAVEN
NUI Galway Rory Monaghan High Value Sustainable Renewable Fuels and Bio-Products from Forest Residues in Ireland
NUI Galway Rory Monaghan

A roadmap for the deployment of electrofuels for the decarbonisation of heat and transport in Ireland

Strategic Co-funding Partner: Gas Networks Ireland
Pure Marine Gen (Ireland) Ltd Philip Irwin DUO Wave Energy Technology for Accessible Markets
SuperNode Ltd Robert O’Connor SuperMarineOne
Sustainability Works Laura Heuston Practical, commercially-focussed research to further develop an innovative financial solution for residential retrofits
Trinity College Dublin David Igoe Development of damping parameters for Irish Offshore Wind Farms
Trinity College Dublin Eleanor Denny Growing Energy Efficiency in the Car Market (GREENCAR)
Teagasc Fiona Thorne

Farm Level Economic, Environmental and Transport modelling of alternative feedstock solutions for regional anaerobic digestion plants in Ireland (FLEET)

Strategic Co-funding Partner: Gas Networks Ireland
TU Dublin Brendan Duffy Droplet Impact Erosion Mill (DIEM)
University College Cork - MaREI Jimmy Murphy Charging strategies and infrastructure design for transition to electrified fleets
University College Cork Jerry Murphy

Developing Economic solutions for on-farm Anaerobic Digestion technologies under Irish conditions (EcoAD)

Strategic Co-funding Partner: Gas Networks Ireland
University College Cork Alejandro Arbelaez Smart Electric Buses
University College Cork Val Cummins OPFLOW
University College Dublin Sheila McBreen Building upon Copernicus Earth Observation services to augment wind measurement coverage of the OREDP offshore renewable energy assessment areas
University College Dublin Mike Long Developing Site Investigation Methodologies and Constraint Mapping Products for Offshore Renewable Energy (DeSIRE)
University of Limerick Tadhg Kennedy Low-Cost Sustainable Battery Systems for Enhanced Grid Penetration of Intermittent Renewable Energy
University of Limerick Trevor young Testing and classification of high-performance materials to protect wind turbine blades from leading-edge erosion by droplet impingement
Funding ProgrammeLead OrganisationProject Title Co-funding with

SEAI Energy Policy Research Fellowship Programme

 University College Dublin Development of efficient, low-carbon and renewable heat in Ireland to 2050  

SEAI Energy Policy Research Fellowship Programme

 University College Dublin Development of the offshore wind energy sector up to 2030  
ERA-Net Smart Energy Systems 2018 RegSys Joint Call

Glasport Bio

 

 Development of novel antimicrobial cocktails to mitigate GHG emissions from stored slurries and manures European Commission
ERA-Net Smart Energy Systems 2018 RegSys Joint Call

IERC

 

 BEYOND: Blockchain based Electricity trading for the integration of National and Decentralised local markets European Commission
ERA-Net Smart Energy Systems 2018 RegSys Joint Call

Spatial Outlook Ltd

 

 Regional Energy Demand Analysis Portal (REDAP) European Commission
ERA-Net Smart Energy Systems 2018 RegSys Joint Call

University College Dublin

 EVCHIP - Electric Vehicles Charging Platform for Community European Commission

2018 SEAI National Energy RD&D Funding Call

The 2018 programme is supporting more than 50 projects to the value of €10 million and recieved cross-sectoral support from the following organisations in the form of co-funding: The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine; the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport; Gas Networks Ireland (GNI); the Marine Institute; and Met Éireann.

Lead OrganisationLead ApplicantProject Title
Codema Edel Giltenane Dublin Region Energy Masterplan
Cork Institute of Technology Susan Rea Digi Blocks
Cork Institute of Technology Paul D O’ Sullivan DesignForIU: Comparison of certified versus operational performance of energy efficient technologies
Cork Institute of Technology Michael D. Murphy Agricultural Energy Optimisation Platform (AEOP)
Dublin City University Robert O'Connor Reliable and Efficient Photo-electrochemical Water Splitting for Hydrogen Fuel
Dublin City University Barry McMullin Role of Heterogenous Energy Storage in Paris Aligned Scenarios for the Irish Energy System
Dublin City University Mary Pryce Using Surplus Energy to generate Hydrogen; (USE H2)
Dublin City University Daragh Byrne Optical Antennas and the Purcell effect: towards efficient solar concentration
Dundalk Institute of Technology Paul MacArtain Dundalk Virtual Energy Microgrid (DVEM)
Electricity Exchange DAC Paddy Finn Low Cost Monitoring and Control of Small Scale Renewables
Exergyn Kevin O'Toole Exergyn Heat Pump
IES R&D Ruth Kerrigan Assessment Methodology Building Energy Ratings (AMBER)
Irish BioEnergy Association (IrBEA) Noel Gavigan Biomass Practitioners Register
Irish Green Building Council Marion Jammet Building Upon Ireland’s National Renovation Strategy
Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR) David McCormack The True Cost of the Energy – Water Nexus in Manufacturing
Limerick Institute of Technology Seamus Hoyne FactHP - In Use Factors for Heat Pumps and other energy technologies in Residential Buildings
Mullan Grid Consulting Rory Mullan Identifying the relative and combined impact and importance of a range of curtailment mitigation options on high RES-E systems in 2030 & 2040
NUI Galway Marie Coggins Indoor air quality, ventilation and occupant comfort in Irish domestic dwelling’s pre and post Deep Energy renovations
NUI Galway Cathal O’Donoghue

Enhancing and Assessing the Impact of Novel Circular Economy Sectors in the bioeconomy

Strategic Co-funding Partner: Dept. of Agriculture (DAFM)
NUI Galway Basanta Kumar Samala

CAO IRL Coupled Atmosphere Ocean Wave Forecasts for Ireland

Strategic Co-funding Partners: Marine Institute & Met Eireann
NUI Galway Miriam Byrne Assessment of VentilAtion effectiveness via a Longitudinal indoor environmental study in ‘A’ rated Irish Dwellings: VALIDate
NUI Galway Xinmin Zhan BIO-RPISM: biofuel production, digestate purification and CO2 sequestration with highly productive auto-floating microalgae technology
NUI Galway Charles Spillane Next generation modular energy generating greenhouse (NGMEGG)
NUI Galway Thomas van Rensburg Social acceptability of wind farms and electricity export: a discrete choice econometric approach
NUI Galway Eoghan Clifford The Aeration In-Use Factor: The in-use aeration energy efficiency of two technologies in the wastewater treatment industry
SSE Airtricity David Noronha FREMI (Forecasting Renewable Energy with Machine Intelligence)
The Heritage Council Colm Murray Energy Renovation of Traditional Buildings – CPD roll-out
Trinity College Dublin Aonghus McNabola Reducing Energy Consumption in Air Filtration Systems (RECAFS)
Trinity College Dublin Breiffni Fitzgerald Enhanced Controllers to Improve Wind Farm Efficiency
Trinity College Dublin Igor Shvets Trinity Smart Grid
Trinity College Dublin Stephen Dooley Fundamental Information for Technology Commercialisation of Lignocellulosic Waste to Liquid Transportation Fuels by Acid Hydrolysis
Trinity College Dublin Brian Caulfield

DiSTRaCT: moDal ShifT Reduce Carbon in Transport

Strategic Co-funding Partner: Dept. of Transport (DTTAS)
Trinity College Dublin Brian Espey Quantifying Light Loss across Ireland and Identifying Patterns of Energy Use
Trinity College Dublin Bidisha Ghosh

Mitigation of Air Pollution Impacts of Irish Heavy Duty Vehicles (MAP-HDV)

Strategic Co-funding Partner: Dept. of Transport (DTTAS)
University College Cork Bernadette Power Community Engagement in Wind Energy: Innovative approaches to achieving a social license (Co-Wind)
University College Cork Brian Ó Gallachóir Desktop study to assess potential mitigation measures that would reduce CO2 and/or air pollutant emissions from the existing Irish heavy duty vehicle fleet
University College Cork Niall Dunphy EnergyPOLITIES: Politico-institutional framing of collective engagements with the energy system
University College Cork Cian Desmond Support tools for community renewable energy
University College Dublin Ainhoa González Mapping Webtool to Support the Preparation of Local Authority Renewable Energy Strategies
University College Dublin Gerald Mills Urban Building Energy Model
University College Dublin Vikram Pakrashi Robust Real-Time Wind Power Prediction and Early, Accurate Estimation of Downtime for Irish Wind Farms in an Integrated Single Electricity
University College Dublin Paula Carroll Exploration of Air Source Heat Pumps for Ireland's Residential Heating Needs
University College Dublin James Rice Thin film tech for smart windows
University College Dublin Oliver Kinnane nZEB_101
University College Dublin Fionnuala Murphy

Agri Bio Circular Economy (ABC Economy)

Strategic Co-funding Partner: Dept. of Agriculture (DAFM)
University College Dublin Paul Cuffe Using blockchains to facilitate renewable power generation: forecasting, hedging and tokenisation applications
University of Limerick Robert Lynch Enhancement of Inertial Stabilisation of the Electricity Grid using Local Electrochemical Processes for Load Levelling
University of Limerick JJ Leahy Slurres Pilot
Westway Health Ruairi Friel GEBTechTM (Green Energy Boosting Technology): A novel treatment for farm slurries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to generate energy
XD Sustainable Energy Consulting Ltd Xavier Dubuission Retrokit 2.0 - A Cloud-Based Project Planning and Implementation Toolkit to Foster the Uptake of Deep Energy Retrofit in Housing.

Who can avail of the programme

Applications will be accepted from:

  • Companies
  • Research Performing Organisations (e.g. universities, Institutes of Technology and Publically Funded Research Institutions)
  • Public Sector Bodies
  • Semi-State Bodies

Your organisation may apply to the programme individually or as part of a consortium. Applications will only be accepted by organisations based in the Republic of Ireland.

Levels of funding available

The level of funding available ranges from €100,000 for projects of less than one year duration. The maximum is up to €650,000 for projects of up to four years. The table below provides a more accurate overview of the durations and levels of funding available.

Scale/TypeTypical DurationTypical Maximum SEAI Funding
Small Scale Up to 12 months Up to €100,000
Medium Scale 12 - 36 months Up to €350,000
Large Scale 36 - 48 months Up to €650,000
RPO Fellowships 12 - 36 months Up to €250,000

Funding rate

EU state aid rules stipulate:

  • what types of research activities are eligible for support
  • which costs relating to these activities may be covered in part or in full (ranging from 25% up to 100%)
  • the maximum aid intensity that may be granted for the various activities

Further details can be found within the SEAI RD&D Budget Policy included in the Programme documents section of this website

Evaluation process and criteria

Only fully complete applications received prior to the application deadline will be considered for evaluation. Applications will be assessed under three evaluation criteria as follows:

  1. Excellence and Innovation (40%)
  2. Relevance and Impact (30%)
  3. Quality and Efficiency of Implementation (including value for money) (30%)

Programme documents

Contact us

If you have any queries on the SEAI National Energy RD&D Funding Programme please contact EnergyResearch@seai.ie