🏛 EU_PORTAL · 📍 EU
2 000 000 €
5/5/2026
15/9/2026
Horizon Europe
Innovative technologies and solutions to improve wind energy systems supporting the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan on wind
Expected Outcome:
Project results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:
Scope:
The action contributes to address the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan’s research and innovation priorities and targets for wind energy, as defined by the Implementation Working Group (IWG) on wind energy, the European Technology and Innovation Platform on wind energy (ETIP Wind)[1] and the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) joint programme on wind energy[2].
The activities carried out by the project will pertain to the following priority R&I areas:
Structure, breakdown of activities and budget allocation
The action consists of activities directly implemented by the consortium and activities implemented through financial support to third parties. The R&I activities are divided into three challenges:
The breakthrough and the validation challenge can be carried out both through activities directly implemented by the core consortium and through FSTP activities.
The breakthrough challenge entails actions to develop new and potentially disruptive solutions, tools and new knowledge to increase the competitiveness of the wind energy sector and on the acceleration of wind energy deployment at scale both off- and onshore, including with experimental proof of concept, as well as with validation both in laboratory and relevant environment, as appropriate. Concepts and technologies initially developed through the breakthrough challenge could be further matured through the validation challenge.
The validation challenge entails actions to validate technologies, tools and innovative solutions, both in a laboratory and in a relevant environment that have been developed in the project but also developed previously and separately in other European and national projects. For the validation, the project can consider different use cases (e.g. onshore, offshore).
The demonstration challenge entails demonstration activities to accelerate the take up of innovation by the industry, in line with the priorities set by the SET Plan (activities up to TRL 7-8). It will solely be implemented by the core consortium.
The total maximum amount of EU funding for the demonstration activities is expected to be 50 million Euros.
The project is expected to implement at least 3 demonstration activities. The focus of each demonstration activity should be clearly different from each other. The proposed solutions should be demonstrated for a continuous period of at least 6 months.
The project is expected to include a clear go/no go milestone, for each demonstration activity, before entering the deployment phase. Before each go/no-go milestone, the project is expected to show evidence of having in place i) all needed permits for deployment, ii) complete, detailed and realistic engineering plans, compliant with the applicable standards and iii) a complete business and implementation plan. The project proposal is expected to present a clear and convincing pathway to obtain necessary permits for the demonstration activities and allow for appropriate timelines to achieve these. The project proposal is also expected to demonstrate how it will get a financial close for each demonstration activity. For this, the use of other EU/national/regional support mechanisms can be considered.
Privileged research and innovation areas for the demonstration challenge are the ones listed from a. to f. in the scope: a. industrialisation, scale-up and competitiveness, b. optimisation and further digitalisation of operation and maintenance, c. wind energy system integration, d. sustainability and circularity, e. floating offshore wind and f. research and technology infrastructures for wind energy.
Activities directly implemented by the core consortium
The activities of the core consortium are expected to include the implementation of direct research and innovation activities in any of the areas listed in scope and in any of the challenges (breakthrough, validation, demonstration). The core consortium will be responsible for the management of the whole project, including the actions carried out through financial support to third parties (management of the FSTP calls, management of the FSTP projects). It is expected that the budget dedicated to the project management will not exceed 7% of the EU funding.
Activities implemented through Financial Support to Third Parties (FSTP)
A share of the EU funding will be implemented through financial support to third parties and used to support research organizations, academia, start-ups, scale-ups, SME’s, industries and other entities and to enable use-cases that are not yet identified in the proposal stage.
The use of financial support to third parties should allow a faster implementation of research and innovation activities, attracting different stakeholders and innovators to develop and validate new technological solutions in the wind sector and respond quickly to new challenges. A tiered approach to address complex R&I challenges should be adopted via FSTP calls, meaning that projects with a relatively short duration should be supported (e.g. 12-18 months). A given action supported by FSTP can be implemented by one third party or by a (small) consortium of entities. Subsequent FSTP calls can be used to give further support to successful initiatives. The calls should be planned carefully and ensure that successful R&I work can continue without major interruption.
The demonstration challenge is excluded from FSTP calls.
For the FSTP calls, the following should be taken into account:
The first FSTP call for the breakthrough challenge should be published in the first year of the project. The FSTP calls for the validation challenge must be published in a later stage considering the experience and the results of the breakthrough challenge and/or the core project R&I activities. The duration of the actions supported by FSTP should not be longer than 18 months.
The activities carried out through FSTP calls can pertain to any of the research and innovation areas listed in scope. The applicants must clearly describe in their proposal the objectives and the expected results of the FSTP call.
For the FSTP calls, the consortium is expected to take into account the provisions on ‘financial support to third parties’ set out in Annex B of the General Annexes and incorporate them into the proposal. The consortium should consider specifically elements within the FSTP schemes to address broad EU geographical balance.
The FSTP calls should be open to any public or private entities, including SMEs.
Applicants are advised to consult the European Commission’s guidance on FSTP activities[3].
Governance of the project
The project will have to set out how and with what frequency the calls for proposals to be funded through financial support to third parties (FSTP) are organised and how the evaluation of these proposals is carried out. The core project consortium needs to define the selection criteria and the process and criteria of organisations, for which financial support may be granted, ensuring compliance with the FSTP rules under Horizon Europe. The proposal should describe clearly the methodology to implement the various steps of the FSTP calls, define the specifications of the stages of the competitions, timelines, targets, KPIs and a solid evaluation methodology including evaluation criteria. The consortium is also responsible for ensuring high visibility of the FSTP calls.
The core consortium is expected to demonstrate proven experience in sound financial management of large projects, including public procurement and/or calls and grants to support third parties, in particular for the beneficiaries that will manage the FSTP calls.
The project sets up an Advisory Board, composed of experts in wind energy systems’ research and innovation, representing public and private entities that are independent from the beneficiaries of the project. A representation of the SET Plan Implementation Working Group (IWG) on Wind Energy, the Clean Energy Transition Cofund Partnership related initiative and of the European Commission should be as well part of the Advisory Board. The Advisory Board advises the project to ensure coherence and alignment with the SET Plan activities and goals. The consortium will ensure that the advice of the Advisory Board is appropriately taken into account in the project’s implementation. This will be monitored by the granting authority.
The proposal should define mechanisms to assess and demonstrate progress (with qualitative and quantitative key performance indicators (KPIs), benchmarking and progress monitoring). Besides defining and tracking progress of technology-specific KPIs in the technology areas specifically covered, the project should monitor and report on the contribution towards the high-level SET Plan KPIs defined by the SET Plan community in the wind energy sector[4]. The project should report the progress of all its R&I activities according to these mechanisms and KPIs with an annual deliverable and milestone for the project execution according to plan.
The consortium will have to present a clear risk and mitigation plan. In this plan special attention should be paid to the risk that the chosen demonstration actions will not reach a go-decision.
In the project proposal, the consortium will have to describe all challenges and actions for the whole duration of the project, including the activities to be carried out directly by the core consortium and the ones carried out through financial support to third parties (FSTP). A given action supported by such FSTP scheme can be implemented by one third party or a by consortium of entities.
As regards data management, in addition to fulfilling the standard research data management and open access requirements in line with the Grant Agreement provisions, the project is expected to set up a platform, possibly re-using an already existing one, to ensure the accessibility and maintenance of the data generated by the project. The platform should be able to organise and host data generated by other research and innovation projects on wind energy. Particular efforts should be made to ensure that the data produced in the context of this topic is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable)
The consortium should define measures to maximise the impact of the successful project and for that will contribute to the relevant Knowledge Community and Impact Network of the Clean Energy Transition Partnership and share communicable results with the European R&D community.
Cooperation with International Energy Agency (IEA) Technology Collaboration Programme (TCP) on wind energy systems
For activities carried out that are also covered by relevant initiatives under the International Energy Agency Technology Cooperation Programme for wind energy systems[5], proposals should envisage liaising with these initiatives to consider possible synergies, cooperation and mutual sharing of knowledge.
Duration
The estimated project duration is around 5 years.
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Activities are expected to achieve TRL 6-8 by the end of the project – see General Annex B. Activities may start at any TRL.
[1] See for instance: ETIP Wind Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda 2025-2027 - November 2023
[2] See for instance: NeWindEERA – A New Research Programme for the European Wind Energy Sector – September 2024
[3] European Commission (2025), Good practices for implementing financial support to third parties (FSTP) in EU grants.
[4] ETIP Wind, EERA JP Wind and IWG Wind (2025); “From innovation to industrial competitiveness – How wind R&I funding will deliver European technology sovereignty”. URL: https://etipwind.eu/wp-content/uploads/files/publications/20250408-Etipwind-report.pdf
Due to the complexity of the topic, the page limit for proposals is increased to 60 pages.
described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.
If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used).
described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.
are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.
are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.
described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Beneficiaries must provide financial support to third parties (FSTP). The support to third parties can only be provided in the form of grants. The maximum amount to be granted to each third party is EUR 1 000 000. This is necessary to appropriately conduct the activities in scope of this topic, namely, to contribute to the development of costly and complex components and use costly research and technology infrastructures in the wind sector. These activities are as well labour intensive and need specialised skills. As the topic envisages subsequent FSTP calls to progressively develop a given solution, the maximum amount to be granted to each party needs to be sufficiently high to cater for cases where a given legal entity may receive more than one FSTP grant.
described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.
described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]
Application form templates — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)
Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)
Guidance
Model Grant Agreements (MGA)
Call-specific instructions
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 8. Climate, Energy and Mobility
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 15. General Annexes
HE Framework Programme 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509
Decision authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
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Horizon Europe Programme Guide contains the detailed guidance to the structure, budget and political priorities of Horizon Europe.
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