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Call key data
Resource Efficiency of PV in Production, Use and Disposal
Funding Program
Horizon Europe: Cluster 5 - Climate, Energy and Mobility
Call number
HORIZON-CL5-2024-D3-02-07
deadlines
Opening
17.09.2024
Deadline
21.01.2025 17:00
Funding rate
100%
Call budget
€ 3,000,000.00
Estimated EU contribution per project
€ 3,000,000.00
Link to the call
Link to the submission
Call content
short description
Photovoltaic power generation is pivotal in the transition to a clean energy system and the achievement of a climate-neutral economy. To this end, it is important to enhance its sustainability while creating wealth and additional employment opportunities in Europe.
Call objectives
In order to identify the main areas of improvement for the environmental footprint and resource efficiency of PV, it is necessary to regard the technology’s entire lifecycle. Using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), important knowledge can be gained as to which processes and materials contribute most to the overall environmental footprint. The lifecycle-thinking also aids in identifying key candidates to reduce the use of resources from the design phase. Although it seems self-explanatory that reduction/substitution or efficient use of critical materials lead to improved environmental impact, it is of course essential that these do not adversely affect the function of the technology.
For a renewable energy technology to be successful, it needs to have a strong net positive energy balance. This implies that the energy payback time of systems needs to be short, the carbon footprint needs to be reduced, the use of local materials to reduce transport costs in systems needs to be increased, the use of hazardous materials needs to be avoided, and systems and system components need to be designed in a way that encourages recycling and decreases material usage.
Modern eco-friendly technologies and long lasting, repairable products are required in combination with sound circular economy approaches to process the huge stock of valuable resources at the end of life.
International cooperation with the Mediterranean Region is encouraged.
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Expected results
Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following outcomes:
- Reduce the environmental footprint associated to PV technology deployment across all the phases of the system lifetime (production, transport, installation and end of life).
- Define design and processing guidelines to optimally address circularity of PV systems for one or several PV technologies (silicon, thin film, organic PV, perovskite PV, etc.).
Eligibility Criteria
Regions / countries for funding
Moldova (Moldova), Albania (Shqipëria), Armenia (Հայաստան), Azerbaijan (Azərbaycan), Belarus (Беларусь), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina / Босна и Херцеговина), Faeroes (Føroyar / Færøerne), Georgia (საქართველო), Iceland (Ísland), Israel (ישראל / إِسْرَائِيل), Kosovo (Kosova/Kosovë / Косово), Montenegro (Црна Гора), Morocco (المغرب), New Zealand (Aotearoa), North Macedonia (Северна Македонија), Norway (Norge), Serbia (Srbija/Сpбија), Tunisia (تونس /Tūnis), Türkiye, Ukraine (Україна), United Kingdom
eligible entities
Education and training institution, International organization, Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Other, Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)
Mandatory partnership
Yes
Project Partnership
To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:
- the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions
- the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States
- third countries associated to Horizon Europe - see list of particpating countries
Only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes, as beneficiaries, three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows:
- at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and
- at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.
Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non-associated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call topic.
A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.
Specific cases:
- Affiliated entities — Affiliated entities (i.e. entities with a legal or capital link to a beneficiary which participate in the action with similar rights and obligations to the beneficiaries, but which do not sign the grant agreement and therefore do not become beneficiaries themselves) are allowed, if they are eligible for participation and funding.
- Associated partners — Associated partners (i.e. entities which participate in the action without signing the grant agreement, and without the right to charge costs or claim contributions) are allowed, subject to any conditions regarding associated partners set out in the specific call conditions.
- Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees to protect the EU’s financial interests equivalent to those offered by legal persons.
- EU bodies — Legal entities created under EU law including decentralised agencies may be part of the consortium, unless provided for otherwise in their basic act.
- Joint Research Centre (‘JRC’)— Where provided for in the specific call conditions, applicants may include in their proposals the possible contribution of the JRC but the JRC will not participate in the preparation and submission of the proposal. Applicants will indicate the contribution that the JRC could bring to the project based on the scope of the topic text. After the evaluation process, the JRC and the consortium selected for funding may come to an agreement on the specific terms of the participation of the JRC. If an agreement is found, the JRC may accede to the grant agreement as beneficiary requesting zero funding or participate as an associated partner, and would accede to the consortium as a member.
- Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members (e.g. European research infrastructure consortia (ERICs)) may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’. However, if the action is in practice implemented by the individual members, those members should also participate (either as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities, otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible.
other eligibility criteria
If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must use Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may be used in addition).
Additional information
Topics
Relevance for EU Macro-Region
EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region
UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)
Additional Information
All proposals must be submitted electronically via the electronic submission system of the "Funders & Tenders" portal (accessible via the topic page in the "Search Funding & Tenders" section). Paper submissions are NOT possible.
Proposals must be complete and include all parts as well as the mandatory annexes and supporting documents, e.g. a plan for exploitation and dissemination of results including communication activities, etc.
The application form consists of two parts:
- Part A (to be filled in directly online) contains administrative information on the applicant organizations (future coordinator and beneficiaries as well as affiliated institutions), the summary budget for the proposal and call-specific questions;
- Part B (to be downloaded from the portal submission system, completed and then assembled and uploaded back to the system as a PDF file) contains the technical description of the project.
Annexes and accompanying documents are available directly in the submission system and must be uploaded as PDF files (or in other formats permitted by the system).
The eligible costs are paid in the form of a lump sum.
33 pages are required for a complete application (Part B).
Call documents
HE-Work Programme 2023-2024, Cluster 5, Destination 3HE-Work Programme 2023-2024, Cluster 5, Destination 3(1046kB)
Contact
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