The UK Government is boosting development in renewable energy technologies with over £90m funding.
Energy storage and floating offshore wind will benefit from £68m and £20m, respectively.
The investment is part of the government’s £1bn Net Zero Innovation Portfolio.
The Energy Storage Innovation and the Floating Offshore Wind Innovation competitions will be formally open to bids in spring 2021.
Energy minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said: “The UK’s energy innovators have been vital to us becoming a world-leader in clean green technology, helping us to go further and faster as we tackle climate change.
“This funding will allow us to develop new ways of unlocking the potential for green energy as we continue making big strides towards our goal of eradicating our contribution to climate change by 2050.”
The energy storage funding will accelerate the commercialisation of a “first-of-a-kind storage that can hold energy from wind turbines and solar panels, as well as heat, over long periods of time” until it is needed.
Floating offshore wind funding that will help “unlock the full potential of floating offshore wind technology around the UK coastline”, allowing turbines to be situated in areas where it is too deep for them to be embedded on the seafloor.
Innovative technologies could include advancing vital components such as dynamic high voltage cable systems, moorings for challenging seabed conditions and foundations.
Biomass projects focused on sustainable sources will benefit from £4m government investment, to help “scale up sustainably sourced biomass feedstocks and the production of energy crops”.
These are low-cost and low-maintenance crops grown solely for green energy production, including forestry.
The biomass feedstocks Innovation competition is now open to applications.