Hydrogen BECCS Innovation Programme Phase 1 Competition

The Hydrogen BECCS Innovation Programme will fund the development of technologies which can produce hydrogen from biogenic feedstocks and be combined with carbon capture. It forms part of BEIS's £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, which aims to accelerate the commercialisation of innovative clean energy technologies and processes.

Through a pre-commercial procurement Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) BEIS is looking to fund the development of innovative Hydrogen BECCS technologies and solutions across three categories: 1. Feedstock pre-processing: The development of low cost, energy & material efficient technologies which will optimise biogenic (including biomass and waste) feedstocks for use in Advanced Gasification Technologies. 2. Gasification components: The development of Advanced Gasification Technology components focusing on improving syngas quality and upgrading for generation of hydrogen. 3. Novel biohydrogen technologies: The development of novel biohydrogen technologies which can be combined with carbon capture. e.g. dark fermentation, anaerobic digestion, waste water treatment.

SBRI is a well-established pre-commercial procurement route to connect public sector challenges with innovative ideas from industry, supporting companies to generate economic growth and enabling improvement in achieving government objectives. BEIS is looking to conduct this SBRI under two phases: Phase 1 (total budget £5m) will last 7.5 months and will support multiple projects to scope and develop a feasible prototype demonstration project to be run in Phase 2. Phase 2 (total budget to be confirmed subject to final approval) takes the most promising projects from Phase 1 and supports the proposed physical demonstration of their innovation.

This invitation to tender is for Phase 1 of the programme. Only applicants successful in securing Phase 1 funding and completing the Phase 1 deliverables will be eligible to apply to Phase 2. The maximum budget available for each Phase 1 project is £250,000, the minimum is £50,000.

A virtual Supplier Engagement Workshop was held on 23rd November 2021 to provide potential suppliers with an opportunity to understand more about the competition and to ask questions. The slides from this event and Q&A are published with this notice.

Please note this invitation to tender is also advertised on .gov as part of the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio Collection.

Additional information: **4 March 2022 Update: An updated version (March 2022, previously named February 2022) of the 'Hydrogen BECCS Phase 1 Competition Q&A' document has been uploaded to replace the original document published on 7 February 2022. This document contains all the information from the first publishing and additional answers to questions submitted after 26 January 2022.

In addition, the Terms & Conditions document has been updated to remove any reference to facsimile delivery of Notices in Section 3 (Version 2).**

**7 February 2022 Update: An updated version (Version 2) of the 'Hydrogen BECCS Innovation Programme Phase 1: competition guidance notes' document has been uploaded to replace the original document published on 12 January 2022. An additional Q&A document has also been added covering questions submitted to BEIS between 12 January 2022 and mid-day on 26 January 2022.**

If you wish to take part in this procurement please first register via the online registration form. You must register by 12 noon BST, 4th March 2022. Those applicants that do not register will not be able to access the online application form and hence will not be able to apply/enter the application/assessment process.

Once you have registered please refer to the tender documents attached to this Notice and submit your application via the online application form by 12 noon BST, 11th March 2022.

Any late submissions will not be considered. BEIS reserves the right to halt the procurement process and to not award a contract. BEIS will not be held liable for recovery of costs from unsuccessful bids if a contract is not awarded. All costs will be borne by the bidding organisations. If a contract is created it will be upon BEIS Terms and Conditions, which are available on Contracts Finder with this Notice. If successful and upon contract signature, the supplier is expected to attend a kick-off meeting taking place in June 2022. Project completion for Phase 1 is required by 30th November 2022 when projects must submit their final report to BEIS, with contracts ending 13th January 2023 to enable BEIS to approve final deliverables before project closure.