WAVE AND TIDAL ENERGY: RD&D SUPPORT (WATERS)
WATERS3 Call – April 2014
Guidance on state aid
WATERS3 is being organised and administered by Scottish Enterprise in partnership with the Scottish Government
(SG) and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE). The £6m WATERS3 fund is aimed at supporting pre-competitive
marine energy R&D activities in Scotland.
WATERS will provide financial support for capital and operational costs associated with marine energy projects. We
expect key outcomes from this call to include:
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The deployment of new wave and tidal stream technologies, both at EMEC and elsewhere in Scottish waters;
Genuine advances in cost reduction and learning for wave and tidal stream technologies;
Progress for successful projects and technologies towards commercial exploitation;
Levering in additional private sector investment in the marine renewables sector;
Economic benefit for Scotland and Scottish businesses, stemming from the creation of R&D jobs, the
development of technology which has global potential, and the fabrication and deployment of wave and
tidal stream technologies in Scotland;
An increasingly diverse renewables supply chain in Scotland;
A significant contribution to the overall development of the wave and tidal energy industry in Scotland.
Legal Basis
This third WATERS call is open to businesses located in, or planning to establish a base in, any area of Scotland. It
operates under the terms of the Enterprise & New Towns (Scotland) Act 19901. State Aid approval for the first two
calls was under: (a) the Scottish R&D&I Scheme N369/20082 for R&D support; and (b) the SE Aid for Environmental
Protection Scheme 2012 – 2013 (SA.35080). These Schemes are due to come to an end on 30 June 2014.
We intend to make WATERS3 awards under Schemes which will be notified under the proposed new European
Commission General Block Exemption Regulation (“GBER”)3, specifically the new proposed Articles 24 (Aid for
research and development projects) and 39a (Investment aid for the promotion of energy from renewable sources).
We expect the new GBER to be published in May and new Schemes will then be notified. As it is still to be finalised,
the information provided in this document is for information only and may be subject to change.
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http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1990/ukpga_19900035_en_1
http://www.stateaidscotland.gov.uk/state_aid/SA_ApprovalsView.jsp?pContentID=340&p_applic=CCC&p_service=Content.show&
http://ec.europa.eu/competition/consultations/2013_consolidated_gber/index_en.html
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Eligible costs
We expect eligible costs for WATERS3 projects to be:
In relation to R&D costs:
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Personnel costs (researchers, technicians and other supporting staff to the extent employed on the project);
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Costs of instruments and equipment to the extent and for the period used for the project. If such
instruments and equipment are not used for their full life for the project, only the depreciation costs
corresponding to the life of the project, as calculated on the basis of good accounting practice, are
considered as eligible;
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Cost of contractual research, technical knowledge and patents bought or licensed from outside sources at
market prices, where the transaction has been carried out at arm’s length and there is no element of
collusion involved, as well as costs of consultancy and equivalent services used exclusively for the project;
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Additional overheads incurred directly as a result of the project e.g. travel directly associated with the
project;
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Other operating expenses, including costs of materials, supplies and similar products incurred directly as a
result of the project.
In relation to Capital costs:
Only investment in new installations can be supported. Eligible capital costs are in relation to the design,
construction, site consenting, deployment, installation, subsystem testing, commissioning and limited
deployment/running of the project technology.
We expect support under the proposed new GBER article 39a will be available in respect of investment costs
necessary to achieve the higher level of environmental protection. The costs not directly linked to the achievement
of the higher level of environmental protection shall not be eligible. In particular, the new GBER indicates eligible
costs will be:
(a) Where the costs of investing in environmental protection can be identified in the total investment cost as a
separate investment, this environmental protection related cost shall constitute the eligible costs;
(b) In all other cases, the costs of investing in environmental protection are identified by reference to a similar,
less environmental friendly investment that would have been credibly carried out without the aid. The
difference identifies the environmental protection related cost and constitutes the eligible costs.
If electricity is supplied to the grid, the producers or, where relevant, aggregator, shall be subject to standard
balancing responsibilities.
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Aid Intensity
R&D
The amount of aid available for R&D elements of projects will depend on the final position taken by the Commission
in the new GBER but will be influenced by:
a. the size of the organisation
b. the extent to which tasks to be undertaken may be classified as ‘industrial research’ or ‘experimental
development, as currently defined within the new draft GBER, as follows:
o
'industrial research' means the planned research or critical investigation aimed at the acquisition of
new knowledge and skills for developing new products, processes or services or for bringing about a
significant improvement in existing products, processes or services. It comprises the creation of
components parts to complex systems, and may include the construction of prototypes in a
laboratory environment or in an environment with simulated interfaces to existing systems as well
as of small scale pilot lines to test and validate the manufacturing method performance, when
necessary for the industrial research and notably for generic technology validation;
o
‘experimental development’ means acquiring, combining, shaping and using existing scientific,
technological, business and other relevant knowledge and skills with the aim of developing new or
improved products, processes or services. This may also include, for example, activities aiming at the
conceptual definition, planning and documentation of new products, processes or services;
Experimental development may comprise prototyping, demonstrating, piloting, testing and
validation of new or improved products, processes or services in environments representative of real
life operating conditions where the primary objective is to make further technical improvements on
products, processes or services that are not substantially set. This may include the development of a
commercially usable prototype or pilot which is necessarily the final commercial product and which
is too expensive to produce for it to be used only for demonstration and validation purposes.
Experimental development does not include routine or periodic changes made to existing products,
production lines, manufacturing processes, services and other operations in progress, even if such
changes may represent improvements.
Where a project receives R&D aid for the development of commercially usable prototypes or pilots, the net revenues
directly attributable to their subsequent commercial use within 5 years of completion of the project must be
deducted from the eligible costs.
The following table is an indication of the current proposed maximum aid intensity, against eligible costs, that is set
out in the draft GBER:
Industrial Research
Experimental
Development (including
pre-commercial
prototypes which do not
produce power)
Small Company
70%
45%
Medium Company
60%
35%
Large Company
50%
25%
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Capital
Again, the amount of aid available for capital elements of projects will be dictated by the size of the applicant
organisation, in accordance with the proposed new GBER Article 39a. Note that aid for capital under GBER Article
39a is only available for projects where power is to be generated. The following table is an indication of maximum
aid intensity.
Capital
Small Company
65%
Medium Company
55%
Large Company
45%
The aid intensity may be increased by 5% for investments located in assisted areas in Scotland, which will be
identified in the new regional aid map for the UK for the period 2014 -2020. The map is currently being finalised by
the UK Government for submission to the Commission for approval.
Notes
1. For WATERS3, Scottish Enterprise reserves its right to determine the amount of funding to be made available to
projects and may not fund up to the maximum aid intensities permitted under the state aid notifications
detailed previously. Scottish Enterprise also reserves the right to determine which state aid article is
appropriate.
2. The definition of company size, in compliance with EU guidance in relation to SME definition, is set out in this
document:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/facts-figures-analysis/sme-definition/index_en.htm
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