The first phase of the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s (DECC) Energy Entrepreneurs Fund has seen £16 million distributed to 30 projects.

Sitting alongside the £16 million sum is a further £2 million of funding under the first phase of Energy Storage competitions and £3 million for Advanced Heat Storage.

The funding is to help entrepreneurs bring a range of new and innovative low carbon products to market, in the hope that they will create jobs and forge export opportunities as the UK looks to meet its carbon targets.

Greg Barker, energy and climate change minister, comments, ‘This new investment will give these organisations the boost they need to drive forward the development of a range of innovative low carbon designs, helping cut costs and bring new technologies to market in this sector.

‘Innovation is vital for the move towards a low carbon economy and it’s great to see so many entrepreneurs rising to the challenge.’

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One company receiving capital is Moixa Technology, which has been awarded a Phase 1 Contract by DECC under the Energy Storage Demonstrator Competition to undertake a feasibility study and detailed planning for a large-scale grid storage demonstrator.

Moixa has also formed a consortium of several companies to bid for a proposed Phase 2 project to deliver a grid-scale storage demonstrator.

Speaking to GrowthBusiness, Simon Daniel, founder and CEO of Moixa, says, ‘This represents a significant vote of confidence and investment in growing UK cleantech.’

‘The Energy Storage fund and planned further £17 million for demonstrators, is key to commercialise grid-scale storage opportunities in the UK.’

The DECC’s Energy Entrepreneurs Fund is worth £35 million and was launched in April 2012. Its mandate is to support energy efficiency technologies such as building control systems, advanced light systems and space heating and cooling technologies.