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Energy Entrepreneurs Fund

WSP is supporting small companies with big ideas for state-of-the-art energy technologies, products and processes to help achieve net zero.

Location

  • United Kingdom

Project Value

  • Project value

Project Status

  • Completion March 2021
The UK Government’s Energy Entrepreneurs Fund supports the development and demonstration of the best energy-technology ideas from the public and private sector – in particular from small- and medium-sized enterprises. We have worked with the fund, as part of consortium led by Carbon Limiting Technologies, since its inception in 2012. We have used our technical and commercial expertise to help entrepreneurial innovators like C-Capture, Powervault and Ventive take their ideas to market.  

Our support includes:

  • Market sector reviews 

  • Safety cases 

  • Customer introductions 

  • Independent validation of test results 

  • Selecting premises 

  • Product export requirements. 

“The innovative services, products and technologies we’re supporting have applications in transport, the built environment, utilities and manufacturing. They will contribute to decarbonisation across sectors and help reduce the overall use of energy.”
Dominic Cook Director – Water, Energy and Industry, WSP
Phases of the Energy Entrepreneurs Fund since 2012
7 7
Private funding leveraged so far
£500+ mlln £500+ mlln
Jobs created
558 558

Bramble Energy

One company that WSP supports through the fund is Bramble Energy, which was founded in 2016 at University College London and Imperial College London. 

 

Bramble Energy makes hydrogen fuel cells – devices that combine hydrogen with oxygen to produce electricity. This electricity can then be used for a range of applications such as domestic back-up power. Coupled with hydrogen produced from excess renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, fuel cells are poised to play a key role in achieving net zero. 

 

Bramble Energy is solving the challenges of manufacturing complexity, scale-up and cost by focussing on constructing hydrogen fuel cells using materials and manufacturing techniques with well-established supply chains. It is the only fuel cell company with the manufacturing capacity to supply gigawatts of fuel cell hardware. 

 

Drawing on our expertise across the global energy sector, WSP evaluated potential markets for Bramble Energy’s products in the US, India, Brazil and South Africa. We found that the unreliable energy grids in India and South Africa offered particular opportunities for fuel cells, and we examined the requirements Bramble Energy would have to meet to get a new product registered and into these markets. 

“It’s been a valuable experience personally. Being involved with the grant recipients, some of which are small startups, gives us a broader view of the industry and the technologies coming through. For our team, it’s been a chance to see – and help shape – what the future might look like.”
Srujana Saduvala  Senior Mechanical Design Engineer, WSP

OTHER CHALLENGES THAT WE HAVE OVERCOME