Overview
NGIF Accelerator’s Industry Grants Program has launched a $5MM Cleantech Challenge to drive innovation across the natural gas value chain.
The Challenge is a funding call to cleantech enterprises from around the world that can support emissions reduction efforts across the natural gas value chain in four strategic focus areas: Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS), Methane Management, Energy Efficiency and Resiliency, and Renewable Natural Gas (RNG).
The NGIF Accelerator Cleantech Challenge will allow the Industry Grants program to provide funding from its 14 energy company participants to support the development and demonstration of clean technologies. The Challenge will offer up to $500,000 CAD per project demonstrated in Canada, representing as much as 50% of a project's total eligible expenses.
The Challenge is open to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and startups from around the world to come to Canada to access grant funding, technology validation for product market fit, and future energy customers.
The submission deadline is December 6th at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST). Funding decisions will be announced in May 2025.
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Deadlines
Deadline: Closed
Why you should apply
Canada is the 5th largest natural gas producer. The Industry Grants program's participants represent some of Canada's largest natural gas producers, midstream, and utilities organizations. The NGIF Accelerator Industry Grants program offers successful applicants:
- Access to non-dilutive funding for technology development and demonstration projects,
- Feedback on their technology development efforts from natural gas industry experts,
- Access to demo host sites to field test and de-risk their innovations,
- Access to potential future customers.
The NGIF Accelerator Cleantech Challenge will support NGIF Accelerator’s mandate to take action and advance the most promising enterprises in cleantech innovation and support them through their pilot projects and field trials to commercialization.
- The guiding criteria for (Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) technologies include an emphasis on technology performance, cost efficiency, and environmental impact.
- Technologies should aim for at least 35% better performance than benchmark post-combustion capture systems, with a preference for those exceeding 50%.
- They should achieve high CO2 purity (~>95%) and capture over 90% of CO2 emissions, though lower levels may be acceptable if they offer significant capital and operating cost savings.
- Additionally, technologies should aim to achieve the highest positive environmental impact, a small land footprint, and integrate smoothly with existing operations, specifying clearly all utility requirements.
- For detailed information on the criteria, review the intake guidelines document here
- The guiding criteria for evaluating technologies focus on performance, methane detection, and operational integration.
- Technologies should demonstrate a cost structure comparable to existing solutions, achieve high accuracy in detecting and quantifying methane emissions with minimal errors, and integrate smoothly with existing operations.
- For detailed information on the criteria, review the intake guidelines document here
- This focus area includes transformative technologies that can improve the energy efficiency of processes, equipment, and appliances, reduce or eliminate energy waste, and lower energy costs in the production, transmission, distribution, and end-use of natural gas.
- Technologies of interest include advanced new designs and materials, enhancing system performance, and optimizing systems, as well as advanced combustion, monitoring, and control technologies.
- For detailed information on the criteria, review the intake guidelines document here
- Emerging technologies on Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) to achieve carbon neutrality for the natural gas production, transmission, and distribution network.
- Disruptive technologies in RNG production and processing from a variety of feedstocks, such as agriculture waste, organic materials, landfills, and biosolids. This also includes RNG production from new pathways.
- Advanced anaerobic digestion and gasification processes.
- New compression and efficient raw gas purification processes to lower the cost of RNG production and processing is also of interest.
- For detailed information on the criteria, review the intake guidelines document here
- Novel technologies that improve the natural gas industry's environmental and economic performance compared to current technologies.
- Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4 or higher technologies. This call for proposal seeks projects to advance clean technologies currently at the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) between 4 and 8. Only technologies with minimum TRL 4 will be considered.
- Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are non-subsidiary, independent technology development firms that employ fewer than 500 employees.
- Technology development startups are non-subsidiary, independent technology development firms that employ fewer than 100 employees, generate less than CAD $25 million in annual revenues, and are focused on developing and scaling up pre-commercial technologies.
The NGIF Accelerator Industry Grants (IG) program was created to accelerate cleantech innovations throughout the natural gas value chain. The program's mandate is to fill technology development gaps in the sector and invest in enabling solutions for current and emerging industry challenges.
- Our mission is to advance clean technologies that improve environmental outcomes, boost economic competitiveness, and eliminate or reduce barriers to sustainability.
- The IG program is wholly funded by the Canadian natural gas industry.
- The IG program exists to support Canada’s natural gas industry with non-dilutive funding to identify emerging innovations and support their development and scale-up to commercialize them.
- The IG program enables validation and customer creation to give start-up organizations the final push for market adoption.
- The IG program supports the development, demonstration, and de-risking of clean technology solutions for the natural gas industry through field trials and pilot projects to drive innovation and support environmental goals in Canada.
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At NGIF, we invest in companies who are leading in the development of clean technologies for energy and who have the potential to demonstrate significant and quantifiable environmental and economic returns.
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