The following areas are excluded from the scope of the topic as they fall within the scope of partnerships or other calls:

• Hydrogen production through electrolysers.
• Fuel cells.
• Basic material research.
• Batteries.

The proposal is expected to establish technological feasibility of its concept through a robust research methodology, at least TRL 4 or at most TRL 5. The concept could be based on a new solution or on the improvement of an existing high-risk and high return solution. Technology transfer from sectors other than energy should be considered whenever relevant, as it may provide ideas, experiences, technology contributions, knowledge, skills, and new approaches.

For bioenergy or biofuel concepts, whenever the direct use of biogenic waste is considered, resource availability and treatment will be taken into account from the design stage.

In developing its concept, the proposal is expected to address the following related aspects: lower environmental impact, minimise impacts on biodiversity and protected species and habitats, reduced pollution, better resource efficiency (materials, geographical footprints, water, etc…). Whenever risks have been identified, mitigation measures need to be presented.

The proposal is expected also to present a comparison with current commercial renewable energy technologies and/or solutions to show its advantages in terms of expected economic performance, environmental impact (notably on biodiversity and pollution), energy security, competitivity and industrial independence.

Selected projects are expected to consider the drivers behind social acceptance and trust-building of the technological solution and assess the best way to promote local involvement as part of ensuring a just transition (gender, cultural and socio-economic factors should be accounted for). An analysis of policy approaches that are encompassing (policy mixes), adaptive (policy learning) and context sensitive (working for different places, levels and/or sectors) should also be performed in order to support the deployment of the future new technology.

This topic requires the effective contribution of SSH disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities.

Proposals are encouraged to consider, where relevant, services offered by European research infrastructures, as well as related projects offering access to research infrastructures in the clean energy domain- particularly RISEnergy.