Funding for new diesel alternatives
25 January 2023
The UK government has announced that it is providing £32.5 million in the second phase of its Red Diesel Replacement Competition to develop greener energy sources.
The funding will support up to five more demonstration projects that participated in Phase 1 of the programme. Last year 17 participants received funding including Punch Flybrid which was awarded £460,000 to further develop its electrically driven flywheel energy system (pictured) to store and use energy that would ordinarily be wasted from a vehicle or machine, as reported on Site-Eco in June.
Other previous winners include Mahle Powertrain in partnership with the University of Nottingham and Clean Air Power to build two prototype engines capable of running on ammonia and hydrogen; Catagen which is developing an e-fuel generator running one-diesel, as well as a hydrogen compressor; and UlemCo in partnership with Skanska and the Building Research Establishment to develop and deploy its H2ICED combustion engine for on-site construction equipment, including converting a piling machine to run on hydrogen fuel.
The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy launched the Red Diesel Replacement competition in September 2021 to provide grant funding to support innovative technologies for decarbonising the construction, mining and quarrying sectors that were most impacted by the removal of the red diesel rebate from April 2022.
