GrantRadar

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

Underground hydrogen storage demonstrator DEVEX support

An Innovate UK competition from UKRI's R&D Missions Accelerator Programme, under the Ultra Long Duration Energy Storage (ULDES) Challenge, funding project development (DEVEX) studies that take a site-specific underground hydrogen storage demonstrator from early design (FEL-1 or -2) to an FEL-3 complete, investment-ready proposition. Projects request £200,000 to £750,000 for 6 to 12 months and must be led by a UK registered business. It is the first stage of a possible wider UKRI investment of up to £10 million in a demonstrator, though an award gives no entitlement to future funding.

Apply on the funder’s site
You could get
£200,000 – £750,000
Deadline
78 days left
13 January
Effort
Heavy
budgets, references, often several stages

Who can apply

  • The lead, whether working alone or leading a collaboration, must be a UK registered business of any size; academic institutions cannot lead or work alone
  • Collaborators can be UK registered businesses, academic institutions, charities, not-for-profits, public sector organisations or research and technology organisations; in a collaboration the lead and at least one other organisation must claim funding
  • Non-UK organisations can join only as non-funded partners or as justified subcontractors
  • The project must request £200,000-£750,000 in total grant, last 6 to 12 months, start by 1 April 2027 and end by 31 March 2028, and carry out its work and spend most of the funding in the UK
  • Businesses can claim up to 70% (micro or small), 60% (medium) or 50% (large) of eligible costs; research organisations doing non-economic work share up to 30% of total project costs
  • An organisation can lead only one application
  • Organisations in financial difficulty, or that have failed to exploit a previous project, have an overdue accountant's report or breached award terms, cannot be funded

What it funds

Project development studies (classed as feasibility studies) for a first-of-a-kind UK underground hydrogen storage demonstrator facility, at a specific identified site, that targets 10 to 100 MWh of hydrogen working gas capacity and initial deployment by 2030, with a credible pathway to commercial GWh-scale deployment by 2035 and at least 100 continuous hours of discharge availability. The study must include, as a minimum:

  • Front end engineering design (FEED) level engineering definition
  • Robust cost and schedule definition
  • Commercial viability assessment
  • Hydrogen supply and offtake arrangements
  • Planning, consenting and regulatory progression
  • Project execution and procurement planning

Eligible technologies are engineered lined shafts, subsurface silos or vertical pipe arrays, engineered lined rock caverns, depleted oil fields, depleted gas fields and novel salt caverns (only where they involve material technical or system innovation). Other technologies may be considered with a clear case; contact Innovate UK before applying.

What it will not fund

  • Laboratory scale or early stage discovery research
  • Development of individual materials, components, equipment or subsystems without integration into a defined, site specific underground hydrogen storage project
  • Technology testing or innovation alone, without a credible site, demonstrator proposition and pathway to FEL-3 completion
  • Projects focused primarily on hydrogen production, transportation, transmission, distribution or end use rather than underground hydrogen storage
  • Above ground hydrogen storage, linepack or transportable storage as the principal storage solution
  • Routine or generic project development that does not materially reduce the risks constraining progression towards final investment decision
  • Business as usual activity that would proceed at the same scale and pace without public funding
  • Production, conversion, storage or use of hydrogen derivatives or carriers such as ammonia, methanol, synthetic methane or liquid organic hydrogen carriers
  • Projects dependent on export performance or on using a set percentage of UK components

How to apply

  1. Read the competition brief and Innovate UK's guidance on applying through the Innovation Funding Service (IFS)
  2. Optionally attend the online briefing on 28 October 2026 and the Innovate UK Business Connect surgery on 5 November 2026
  3. Start the application on the IFS; if collaborating, invite each partner to enter its own costs and Project Impact answers
  4. Complete the four sections: project details (including a 600-word scope answer describing the demonstrator), application questions (15, several with required appendices), finances and Project Impact
  5. Submit by 11am UK time on 13 January 2027; applications can be reopened and resubmitted until then
  6. Applicants are notified on 13 February 2027; successful projects agree a master deliverables register and stage gates with UKRI, and must produce a first draft Basis of Design within three months

Requests to go outside the funding or duration limits must be justified by email to support@iuk.ukri.org at least 10 working days before the deadline.

Innovate UK will not answer queries received between 23 December 2026 and 4 January 2027, and replies may be delayed from 18 December 2026.

Have ready

  • Proposed Master Deliverables Register for FEL-3 completion, using the template provided
  • Line item DEVEX and CAPEX cost breakdown appendix
  • Project plan or Gantt chart
  • Project governance and responsibility matrix or organisation chart
  • Optional appendix of letters of support, each up to one A4 page
  • Each partner's project costs; academic institutions' costs on the TRAC method

Appendices must be PDFs no larger than 10MB and legible at 100% zoom, mostly up to two A4 pages each.

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