The British government has today released three in-depth reports as part of a wide-ranging programme designed to identify where innovation is required to make key emerging clean technologies commercially viable.

The latest Technology Innovation Needs Assessments (TINAs) analyse marine energy, electricity network and storage, and carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies, and conclude that significant levels of innovation are still required if the technologies are to be rolled out at scale.

Undertaken by the government’s Low Carbon Innovation Coordination Group, which features a host of departments and green agencies, including Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the Carbon Trust, the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI), and the Technology Strategy Board, the latest reports are intended to shape how the government and businesses prioritise investment to support the development of crucial low-carbon technologies.

They are also expected to play a major role in shaping how the government spends its £200m low carbon innovation fund, which is designed to support the development of commercially viable green technologies.

The latest three reports come after the first TINA study on offshore wind energy, which was released earlier this year, and are expected to be followed by additional reports on Bioenergy, Industrial Energy Efficiency, Heat, Domestic Buildings, Nuclear Fission, and Hydrogen over the next few months.

As expected, the new reports conclude that marine energy, electricity network and storage, and CCS technologies, can play a key role in cutting the UK’s carbon emissions, but further technology innovation is urgently required to improve the affordability of the emerging technologies.

For CCS, which the government has earmarked as crucial to the UK’s future low carbon energy mix, the report suggests the technology could reduce the country’s energy system costs by between £10bn and £45bn by 2050, arguing that “innovation to ensure the security of long-term CO2 storage remains particularly critical to CCS viability”.

The report claims further technology innovation is required to address “high and uncertain” component costs and address challenges relating to the integration of carbon capture and safe storage technologies. It adds that if this innovation is successfully delivered, CCS could contribute between £3bn and £16bn of economic value to the UK by 2050.

Similarly, the TINA for electricity network and storage technologies argues that these smart grid systems can tackle challenges faced by the UK’s grid more cost effectively than traditional grid upgrades or continued investment in back-up fossil fuel power plants. But again further innovation is required to ensure these technologies play a role in supporting the rollout of renewable energy and electric vehicle technologies.

The report concludes that smart grid technologies could save the UK between £4bn and £19bn by mid-century, while creating up to £34bn of business opportunities.

Finally, the TINA for marine energy echoes the assessment of offshore wind energy carried out earlier in the year, highlighting that the technology will need to reduce costs down to a competitive level of £100/MWh by 2025 if the UK is to support the widespread rollout of wave and tidal energy arrays.

The report argues this level of cost reduction is “ambitious but possible with significant innovation”. It adds that marine energy could cut UK energy system costs by between £3bn and £8bn by 2050 and help create a UK industry worth up to £4bn a year.

Climate Minister Greg Barker welcomed the new reports and signalled that they would play a crucial role in helping to shape the government’s efforts to support clean tech innovation.

“Innovation is key to the growth of the low carbon economy here in the UK,” he said in a statement. “This new analysis will help us better understand the value of these technologies to our growing green economy as well as the barriers to commercialisation, helping us put our available investment in the right place to spur on further innovation.”

A DECC spokeswoman told BusinessGreen the TINAs were already informing how DECC distributes its £200m innovation fund to best tackle the affordability issues that hamper many low carbon technologies.

She revealed the newly released Marine Energy TINA had helped shape the recent launch of the £20m Marine Energy Array Demonstrator competition, while the report earlier this year on offshore wind had resulted in the launch of the £30m Offshore Wind Component Technologies Development and Demonstration Scheme, which is focused on reducing the cost of offshore turbines.