Horizon Europe European Union
Neutral-Atom Platform Technologies
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Horizon Europe · European Union
Demonstration of solid biofuel supply and conversion to high efficiency CHP from fully sustainable regional value chains
Open
The EU's Horizon Europe programme expects to make 2 awards of €6.75 million each, from a total budget of €13.5 million. Applications close on 1 Dec 2026 (EU calls usually close at 17:00 Brussels time). Organisations in EU member states and Horizon Europe associated countries such as Türkiye can usually take part; the topic conditions control.
- Deadline
- 1 Dec 2026 (in 16 days)
- Grant amount
- €6.75 million per project
- Total budget
- €13.5 million
- Funding rate
- 70% for companies, 100% for non-profits Standard rule for this programme; the call can differ.
- Total budget
- €13.5 million
- Expected awards
- 2
- Type of action
- HORIZON Innovation Actions · HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based
- Likely applicant types
- Companies, SMEs / start-ups, Non-profits, Universities & research, Public bodies From source categories or programme rules; the call decides.
- Funder
- Horizon Europe (HORIZON)
- Reference
- HORIZON-CL5-2026-11-D3-05
- Call
- HORIZON-CL5-2026-11
- Last checked
- 14 Nov 2026
Expected outcome
Fully sustainable regional bioenergy value chains and efficient conversion can play an important role in renewable efficient power and heating generation and for reaching the EU climate and energy targets and contribute to European competitiveness and energy security.
Project results are expected to contribute to at all of the following expected outcomes:
• The demonstration of regional value chains for the use of locally to regionally sourced sustainable and cheap solid biofuel from upgraded biogenic residues and wastes in line with the provisions of the Renewable Energy Directive in high efficiency CHP plant creates opportunities for SMs, regional value generation and European knowledge advancement and international competitiveness in the sector.
• Provide flexible renewable power and heat to local industries for their processes and allow for high penetration of renewables in the energy system by ensuring sustainable bioenergy base load capacity.
Read the full text
• Provide replicable solutions, where bioeconomy stakeholders can benefit from the knowledge generated for the development of their strategies aligned with energy and environmental policy objectives and which can contribute to the objective of decreasing the EU’s and Ukraine`s dependence on fossil fuels and increasing energy security.
• Regulatory and permitting authorities as well as investors and important actors of the value chain are in a better position to assess socio-economic and environmental aspects of the value chain, in particular on circularity, industrial resilience biodiversity and soil carbon.
Scope
Demonstration of a viable regional value chain for the use of locally to regionally sourced sustainable and cheap solid biofuel from upgraded biogenic residues and wastes in line with the provisions of the Renewable Energy Directive in high efficiency CHP plants (between 10 MWe and 30 MWe) for continuous, cost-effective and low emission operation.
Proposals are expected to cover long-term scenarios for base load operation within the energy system network ensuring socio-economic and environmental sustainability and in particular the exclusion of negative impacts on other regional bio-based value chains and biomass uses in line with the provisions of the Renewable Energy Directive (also on cascading use), biodiversity, water balance, air quality and soil carbon stocks and other bioeconomy sectors which should be assessed by a comprehensive life cycle analysis. For this purpose, the extraction of residues should respect locally defined retention thresholds for deadwood extraction and exclude negative impacts on soil quality and soil carbon
Read the full text
To minimise possible local ecosystem interferences, biomass fuels from residues and wastes are expected to be the primary feedstock of the high-efficiency CHP plant. The biomass fuels are expected to be produced with the use of innovative preprocessing and upgrading technologies and through the adoption of advanced supply chains from a mixture of residues and wastes and exclude negative impacts not only overall, but in each individual harvest location, which results in specific operational, economic and logistical and supply chain challenges to be addressed. Proposals should foresee at least one regional value chain demonstration including use of the solid biofuel with verified quality and occurring GHG and air-pollutant reduction in an operational high efficiency CHP plant. Proposals should ensure adequate involvement of feedstock providers (e.g. farmers, foresters, municipalities) to strengthen their position in the value chains relevant for this topic.
Proposals are expected to demonstrate ways for future efficient, cost-effective, robust, resilient and low pollution CHP plants (including retrofitting and excluding co-firing with fossil fuels) in a local industrial context.
Plans for the exploitation and dissemination of results for proposals submitted under this topic are expected to include a strong business case and sound exploitation strategy. In this respect, collaboration with suitable networks like e.g. bioenergy clusters should be envisaged to avoid the development of overly site-specific solutions and to enhance replicability. The exploitation plans are expected to include preliminary plans for scalability, commercialisation, and deployment (feasibility study, business plan) indicating the possible funding sources to be potentially used (in particular the Innovation Fund). Special attention should be paid to estimating the GHG and air pollutant emissions reduction potential; projects will be encouraged…
Who can apply
Consortium of at least 3 independent legal entities from 3 different EU Member States or associated countries, at least one in a Member State (Horizon Europe standard rule).
Applicant categories are a starting point. The official call decides eligibility.
Timing
Single-stage call. Next deadline 2026-12-01. The portal states the exact cut-off time (EU calls usually close at 17:00 Brussels time).
How to apply
- Read the full topic on the Funding & Tenders Portal: expected outcome, scope, type of action and the topic conditions, including any country restrictions.
- Register each participating organisation in the Funding & Tenders Portal to get a PIC.
- Consortium of at least 3 independent legal entities from 3 different EU Member States or associated countries (Horizon Europe standard rule; Türkiye is associated). Confirm in the topic conditions.
- Prepare Part A (administrative forms and budget, completed in the portal) and Part B (the technical description on the official template for this type of action).
- Submit in the portal before the cut-off time on the deadline day. Late submissions are not accepted.
From the call text
- Who can apply
- Not stated in the call text we hold — check the official page
- Company stage
- Not stated in the call text we hold — check the official page
- Single applicant or consortium
- Read the topic conditions on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal for eligible countries, consortium requirements, budget and the application route.
- Where applicants must be based
- Read the topic conditions on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal for eligible countries, consortium requirements, budget and the application route.
- Where to apply
- Read the topic conditions on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal for eligible countries, consortium requirements, budget and the application route.
Where these facts come from
| Fact | Value | How we know | Taken from the source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deadline | 1 December 2026 “Single-stage call. Next deadline 2026-12-01. The portal states the exact cut-off time (EU calls usually close at 17:00 Brussels time).” | official data field | 15 Nov 2026 |
| Amount per applicant | Unknown — not stated in the source we hold | unknown | — |
| Total budget | €13.5 million | official data field | 15 Nov 2026 |
| Funding rate | 70% for companies, 100% for non-profits | programme standard rule | 15 Nov 2026 |
| Who can apply | Consortium of at least 3 independent legal entities from 3 different EU Member States or associated countries, at least one in a Member State (Horizon Europe standard rule). | programme standard rule | 15 Nov 2026 |
| Where to apply | Read the topic conditions on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal for eligible countries, consortium requirements, budget and the application route. | read from the official text | 15 Nov 2026 |
Official sources
Facts on this page come from the funder’s official data, taken on 14 Nov 2026. The funder's own documents, including later amendments, always take precedence.
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