Officials from Canada and the UK launched a 30-month transatlantic competition October 16 challenging Canadian and British innovators to create new technology solutions to transform the two countries’ traditional power grids into smart energy systems with a binational investment of C$20 million.
Natural Resources Canada and the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in the United Kingdom are each putting forward C$10 million for the Power Forward Challenge, for smart energy systems that can integrate renewable energy and support increasing demands on our electricity grids.
The Power Forward Challenge will award six teams up to $3 million to demonstrate solutions that can best integrate diverse energy resources into the existing grid in the most flexible, reliable and secure way. The team with the highest-performing technology will be awarded an additional $1 million. Each team must include both Canadian and British innovators.
The Power Forward Challenge is the third of five clean technology challenges under Natural Resources Canada’s Cleantech Impact program, part of Impact Canada. Cleantech Impact will invest $75 million over four years in the five challenges.