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UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), through its R&D Missions Accelerator Programme (RDMAP), is offering up to £5 million in grant funding to accelerate the development and validation of technologies needed for safe, reliable and cost-effective underground hydrogen storage (UHS).
The competition supports the UK's Ultra Long Duration Energy Storage (ULDES) ambitions by addressing technical challenges that must be overcome before hydrogen storage components can be deployed commercially.
The programme will focus on three interconnected areas: materials, compressors, and metering and monitoring components. By bringing together industry, researchers, technology developers and testing organisations, UKRI aims to establish a coordinated development programme that can support commercial deployment by 2030.
UKRI expects to fund one collaborative consortium project, making it essential for applicants to demonstrate the expertise, facilities and partnerships needed to address the full competition scope.
Competition Objectives
The primary aim is to accelerate the development of critical underground hydrogen storage technologies and generate the technical evidence needed to support their commercial use within the UK electricity sector.
The competition seeks to:
Projects must deliver an integrated programme rather than separate, unrelated research activities.
Who Can Apply?
The competition is open to collaborative consortia led by eligible UK registered organisations.
Lead Organisation
The lead applicant can be:
• A UK registered business of any size.
• A UK registered research and technology organisation (RTO), provided it demonstrates appropriate commercialisation expertise.
• A UK registered academic institution, provided appropriate commercialisation expertise is demonstrated within the consortium.
The lead organisation must have the financial standing, management capabilities and authority needed to coordinate the programme and its partners.
Consortium Requirements
The consortium must include at least two partners requesting grant funding.
It must also include, or provide supporting letters from:
• An end user, underground hydrogen storage developer or operator.
• UK-based testing and certification organisations, where suitable capacity exists.
Additional partners can include component manufacturers, materials specialists, compressor developers, monitoring technology providers, research organisations, regulatory specialists and supply-chain businesses.
Funding Available
The total eligible grant funding request must be between £2.5 million and £5 million.
The competition supports industrial research projects, with funding rates determined by the organisation's size.
Grant Funding Rates
• Micro and small businesses: Up to 70% of eligible project costs.
• Medium-sized businesses: Up to 60% of eligible project costs.
• Large businesses: Up to 50% of eligible project costs.
Research organisations undertaking non-economic activities can collectively account for up to 100% of the total eligible project costs, subject to the competition's funding rules.
Project Duration and Key Dates
Projects must last between 24 and 30 months.
Competition opens: 23 October 2026
Competition closes: 13 January 2027
Project Scope and Technical Themes
Projects must address all three technical themes through a coordinated research and development programme.
1. Materials
This theme focuses on developing and evaluating materials suitable for underground hydrogen storage and associated equipment.
Potential activities include:
• Improving hydrogen compatibility and durability of steels, liners, cements, tubing, casings, elastomers, seals and other containment components.
• Investigating material degradation, fatigue, corrosion, integrity and containment under representative storage conditions.
• Assessing exposure to relevant fluids, brines, impurities and hydrogen sulphide.
• Developing models to support material lifetime prediction and maintenance planning.
• Improving manufacturing processes, scalability and cost-effectiveness.
The objective is to produce materials and components that can operate safely and reliably under underground hydrogen storage conditions.
2. Compressors
This theme supports the development and improvement of compressor technologies suitable for ultra-long-duration hydrogen energy storage.
Projects can focus on:
• Developing novel or hybrid hydrogen compressor systems.
• Improving the efficiency, reliability and durability of existing compressor designs.
• Reducing capital, operating and maintenance costs.
• Developing advanced control, diagnostics and predictive maintenance approaches.
• Testing compressor performance under representative pressures, flow rates, operating cycles and hydrogen purity conditions.
Solutions should demonstrate a credible route towards manufacturing, scale-up and commercial deployment.
3. Metering and Monitoring Components
This theme focuses on technologies that improve the measurement, monitoring and management of underground hydrogen storage systems.
Eligible activities include:
• Developing hydrogen leakage detection and containment monitoring technologies.
• Improving surface and subsurface monitoring systems.
• Developing gas-flow measurement and condition-monitoring components.
• Monitoring material degradation and underground rock behaviour.
• Integrating sensors, data platforms and diagnostic systems.
• Improving measurement accuracy, calibration, reliability and predictive maintenance capabilities.
Projects must demonstrate how these technologies can improve operational safety, system integrity and long-term performance.
Testing, Validation and Certification
Projects must include testing under conditions representative of intended underground hydrogen storage operations.
Applicants must explain the starting and target maturity of each technology, testing environments, operating conditions, performance criteria and independent validation methods.
Projects must also engage with relevant standards, certification and regulatory organisations, including bodies such as the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Environment Agency, British Standards Institution (BSI) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO), where appropriate.
Where full certification cannot be completed during the project, applicants must establish a credible certification pathway, identify remaining evidence gaps and define the next steps required.
Expected Project Outcomes
By the end of the programme, the successful consortium should deliver:
• Improved performance and cost-effectiveness of materials, compressors and monitoring technologies.
• Validated technical evidence demonstrating performance under representative underground hydrogen storage conditions.
• Improved understanding of degradation, fatigue, integrity, reliability and efficiency.
• Defined pathways towards certification and compliance with relevant standards.
• Manufacturing, supply-chain and commercialisation plans.
• Recommendations for further research, demonstration and commercial deployment.
• Transferable technical knowledge that supports the wider UK hydrogen storage sector.
Applicants must also demonstrate why public funding is necessary and how it will accelerate development, reduce risks or enable collaboration that would otherwise be difficult to achieve.
How Inventya Can Help
Developing a competitive application for this funding opportunity requires a strong multidisciplinary consortium, a coordinated technical programme and a clear pathway towards commercial deployment.
Inventya can support organisations throughout the application process, helping them develop proposals that meet UKRI's requirements and demonstrate the technical, commercial and strategic value of their innovations.
Our support includes:
• Eligibility and project assessment: Evaluating the proposed programme against the competition's scope, eligibility and funding requirements.
• Consortium development: Supporting the identification of suitable technology developers, research institutions, testing facilities and industry partners.
• Grant application development: Preparing a comprehensive application with clearly defined objectives, technical work packages, milestones, deliverables and expected outcomes.
• Financial planning and budgeting: Supporting project cost development, partner budgets and funding justifications.
• Commercialisation and exploitation planning: Developing strategies for intellectual property, market adoption, manufacturing, certification and future commercial deployment.
• Risk management and project planning: Helping applicants establish credible technical development plans, performance indicators and risk mitigation strategies.
With experience supporting innovative businesses across the energy, engineering and sustainability sectors, Inventya can help organisations strengthen their applications and prepare for this competitive funding opportunity.
Contact Inventya to discuss your eligibility, consortium requirements and how we can support your application for the Testing and Validating Underground Hydrogen Storage Components competition.
