Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2667 actions· ✨ 89 recent

Brazil's federal innovation-financing agency FINEP (Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos), under the MCTI/FNDCT umbrella, published a BRL 500 million (~USD 94.8 million) public call — "Finep Mais Inovação Brasil – Rodada 2 – Transição Energética" — offering non-repayable economic-subsidy grants for private-sector research, development and innovation projects across eight energy-transition technology lines: low-carbon electricity generation, energy storage, low-carbon hydrogen, biofuels, biogas/biomethane, and carbon capture/storage/use. Applicant companies must partner with at least one Scientific, Technological and Innovation Institution (ICT). Proposal submission opened 2026-03-03 and runs continuously until 2026-08-31 17:00 (Brasília time).

Brazil's national development bank BNDES approved BRL 280 million (approx. USD 49m) in financing for WEG S.A. to renovate an existing plant and build new capacity for what BNDES describes as Brazil's largest and most modern battery energy-storage-system (BESS) factory, in Itajaí, Santa Catarina. The operation is the first contract under a joint BNDES/Finep public call for strategic-minerals and energy-transition industrial investment ("Mais Inovação"). Announced 4 February 2026; as of the announcement the financing was approved but not yet formally contracted, so this is filed as `stage: proposed` pending contracting.

On 26 December 2025, Japan's Cabinet approved a FY2025 (Reiwa 7) supplementary budget line -- the "Renewable Energy Expansion: Grid- Connected Storage Battery and Other Power Storage System Introduction Support Project" -- budgeted at JPY 8.0 billion (rising to JPY 61.6 billion including multi-year budgetary commitment authority, kokko-saimu futan koi). Global Trade Alert logs this as one of 23 METI programmes under the FY2026 budget cycle supporting Japan's "green transformation" of the industrial sector, effective with the start of fiscal year 2026 on 1 April 2026. The programme subsidises private- sector installation of grid-connected batteries, batteries co-located with renewable generation, demand-side batteries, and long-duration energy storage (LDES) systems, aiming to secure decarbonised balancing capacity as renewable penetration rises and to build resilience against energy-price volatility. METI's Agency for Natural Resources and Energy opened the call for the executing body (shikko dantai) that will run the subsidy's application, screening and disbursement process on 24 December 2025, with submissions due 22 January 2026.

On 19 December 2025 Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) announced EUR 170 million in direct federal grants to seven transformation projects in former coal regions under the STARK programme (Stärkung der Transformationsdynamik und Aufbruch in den Revieren und an den Kohlekraftwerksstandorten), targeting an expected EUR 600 million in total triggered investment and roughly 600 direct jobs plus up to 3,000 indirect supply-chain jobs. The largest disclosed awards anchor the domestic battery-materials value chain: EUR 63.4 million to Aachen startup Cylib for Europe's first industrial-scale LFP battery-recycling line at Chempark Dormagen (60,000 t/year capacity), EUR 36 million to AMG-Lithium GmbH for a battery-grade lithium-salt production expansion (~20,000 t/year) at Chemiepark Bitterfeld-Wolfen, and EUR 46.1 million to Altech Batteries GmbH for a sodium-based (CERENERGY) stationary storage factory at the Lusatian industrial park Schwarze Pumpe. A fourth confirmed recipient, ORE Energy, received EUR 16.2 million for an iron-air storage project ("IronAir4Ruhr") in Gelsenkirchen; the remaining three of the seven funded projects are not yet individually named in public BMWE materials.

On 15 December 2025 Rosatom's fuel division (via subsidiary Renera, under managing company TVEL) put Russia's first full-cycle lithium-ion battery "gigafactory" into pilot-industrial operation in the Neman district of Kaliningrad Oblast. Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Mikhail Ivanov disclosed that the project was financed through a comprehensive state-support package: a RUB 5 billion preferential loan from the federal Industry Development Fund (FRP) under its "Avtokomponenty" (auto-components) programme, plus RUB 5 billion in direct subsidies from the Kaliningrad Oblast government, alongside a special investment contract (SPIC) for the project. The facility has a design capacity of 4 GWh/year — enough to supply battery packs for roughly 50,000 electric vehicles — and is described by officials as a step toward Russian "technological sovereignty" in energy-storage manufacturing following the exit of Western and Asian battery suppliers since 2022.

The Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (BDA, also known as Yizhuang) Management Committee issued Notice 京技管发〔2025〕33号 on 9 December 2025 ("Several Measures to Accelerate the Cultivation of the Future Energy Industry"), effective through 31 December 2028. The package subsidises R&D, shared technology platforms, industrialisation projects and demonstration deployment across new-type energy storage (solid-state batteries, supercapacitors, flow batteries), clean-energy generation (advanced wind, perovskite solar, hydrogen production/storage), low-carbon transition tech (CCUS, smart grid control) and fusion energy (magnetic and inertial confinement). R&D support runs up to 30% of annual enterprise R&D spend; demonstration-scenario procurement is subsidised up to 30% of cost capped at RMB 500,000 per project; first-of-kind product recognition pays up to RMB 150,000 per project per year. Global Trade Alert logged the underlying state act (95719) as a single "state aid, unspecified" intervention (151443).

The European Commission approved, under EU State aid rules, an Estonian strategic reserve scheme worth EUR 750 million (USD 872 million) to safeguard security of electricity supply in emergency situations. The reserve remunerates generation, demand-side-response and storage capacity held outside the normal market and dispatched only when demand exceeds available supply, such as periods of low wind/solar output coinciding with peak consumption. Capacity will be selected through a competitive, technology-neutral, non-discriminatory bidding process, and the scheme will run until 31 December 2035.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, via Governor Josh Shapiro's office and the Department of Community & Economic Development, assembled a $22 million public funding package — a $10 million Pennsylvania First grant plus $12 million through the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP, including $3 million previously awarded in 2022) — alongside a $2 million Allegheny County contribution, to secure a $352.9 million private investment from Eos Energy Enterprises. Eos will relocate its corporate headquarters from New Jersey to a 40,000-square-foot office at Nova Place in Pittsburgh and expand its zinc-based (Znyth) grid-scale battery manufacturing across two existing Turtle Creek facilities plus a new 432,000-square-foot plant in Marshall Township, Allegheny County. The project is expected to create 735 new jobs and retain 265 existing positions (1,000 total).

Queensland's Crisafulli Government announced an AUD 200 million North West Energy Fund on 10 October 2025 as part of its five-year Energy Roadmap and the wider CopperString transmission project (AUD 2.4bn budgeted, following identified savings of AUD 2.1bn against the prior government's cost blowout). The Fund is delivered by Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) and finances local generation, storage, gas, wind and solar projects in the North West Minerals Province -- Mount Isa, Cloncurry, Julia Creek and Richmond -- ahead of CopperString's Western Link. Market sounding with more than 20 organisations began in March 2026, and the Fund formally opened to investor proposals on 1 June 2026, with a requirement that supported projects reach commercial operation or deliver benefits by 2030.

The California Energy Commission approved a USD 25 million grant to SE US Development LLC (SB Energy) under the state's Distributed Electricity Backup Assets (DEBA) program, adopted via resolution at the Commission's October 8, 2025 business meeting (Agreement DBA-25-002). The grant partially funds a 75MW/300MWh slice of a planned 400MW/1,600MWh lithium-ion battery energy storage system (BESS) that SB Energy is retrofitting to its existing 450MWac Athos Solar I + II complex in Riverside County. SB Energy is separately funding roughly USD 10.5 million of the BESS installation cost, with the CEC grant covering the bulk of battery procurement plus a smaller allocation to engineering and construction management; funds must be spent by June 30, 2030 to be reimbursed.

Invest Ontario, the Government of Ontario's investment-attraction agency, signed a non-binding term sheet to provide up to CAD 17.5 million (~USD 12.7 million) in state loan support to Electra Battery Materials Corporation toward its ~CAD 100 million project to build what the company describes as North America's first cobalt sulfate refinery, at Temiskaming Shores, Ontario. The funding is explicitly conditional on the parties reaching a definitive agreement and is intended to reduce reliance on foreign-controlled (principally Chinese) cobalt-refining capacity for EV and energy-storage battery supply chains.

The UK's state-owned National Wealth Fund (NWF), wholly owned by HM Treasury, committed up to £200 million in equity alongside a matching commitment from US investor EIG as part of a £445 million equity round for Fidra Energy. The capital, together with £594 million in loan facilities from a club of international lenders, financed the roughly £1 billion financial close of the 1,400 MW / 3,100 MWh Thorpe Marsh battery energy storage system (BESS) in Doncaster, England — billed as the UK's largest battery storage project and among the largest in Europe, expected to be operational by mid-2027.

The UK's state-owned National Wealth Fund (NWF), wholly owned by HM Treasury, committed up to £200 million as part of a £500 million platform launched with infrastructure manager Equitix and Australian pension fund Aware Super. The platform, operated by Eelpower Energy, will build, own and operate grid-scale battery energy storage (BESS) assets, targeting over 1GW of new UK storage capacity, starting with seed assets already entering construction.

On 19 August 2025 the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) opened applications for the Battery Breakthrough Initiative (BBI), an AUD 500 million capital-grant and production-incentive program to build domestic battery manufacturing capability across the value chain, from active materials to finished cells and packs. The program was first announced in the May 2024 Federal Budget as a pillar of the Future Made in Australia agenda and the National Battery Strategy, and is designed to strengthen supply-chain resilience by leveraging Australia's position as the world's largest lithium producer and a major nickel/cobalt/graphite supplier. Funding was subsequently cut to AUD 142.32 million in the 2026 Federal Budget (see amendments).

The UK's state-owned National Wealth Fund (NWF), wholly owned by HM Treasury, made a £50 million (c. $66.4m) equity investment in AMP Clean Energy, backing the Asterion Industrial Partners-owned developer's rollout of "Battery Box" micro-scale battery storage sites connected to local distribution networks near demand centres (homes, schools, hospitals) across England, Scotland and Wales. The deal is intended to strengthen local grid flexibility and support industrial decarbonisation, and is explicitly tied to the government's Clean Power 2030 mission.

The European Commission approved, under EU State aid rules, a Swedish strategic reserve scheme worth EUR 300 million to safeguard security of electricity supply in emergency situations. The reserve remunerates generation, demand-side-response and storage capacity held outside the normal market and dispatched only when demand exceeds available supply, typically during winter peak-demand periods. Capacity will be selected through a competitive, technology-neutral, non-discriminatory bidding process, with the scheme authorised to run until 2035.

On 28 May 2025, Brazilian President Lula launched "Chamada Nordeste" in Salgueiro (Pernambuco) — a BRL 10 billion (~USD 1.8bn) public call for structuring investment projects in the nine Northeast states, run jointly by BNDES, Banco do Brasil, Caixa Econômica Federal, Banco do Nordeste (BNB) and Finep, with technical support from Sudene and the Northeast Consortium. It is the largest project call ever run for the region and sits under the federal Nova Indústria Brasil (NIB) industrial-policy umbrella. Eligible business plans (minimum BRL 10 million) cover storage/renewable energy, bioeconomy with a pharmaceuticals focus, green hydrogen, green data centers and the automotive/agricultural-machinery sector, financed via a combination of credit lines, non-reimbursable economic subsidies and equity participation; the proposal deadline was 15 September 2025. Demand vastly exceeded supply: the call drew 245 proposals totalling roughly BRL 127.8 billion — nearly 13 times the initial BRL 10bn envelope — before BNDES approved 189 projects worth BRL 113 billion in follow-on selection rounds.

Shanghai's Development and Reform Commission, Economy and Informatization Commission, and Finance Bureau jointly issued the "Shanghai New-Type Power System Regulation Capacity Incentive Fund Management Measures" (沪发改规范 〔2025〕5号), establishing a five-year per-kilowatt-hour reward scheme for grid-scale energy storage projects that use advanced technology. Independent storage stations meeting technical-advancement and industry-catalysing criteria receive CNY 0.35/kWh (CNY 0.2/kWh for user-side storage), capped at 600 kWh of rewardable output per kW of installed capacity per year for three years, plus a one-time equipment bonus of 40% of the cost premium over conventional lithium-ion storage, capped at CNY 50 million per project. Incentive rates step down 10% annually from 2026-2028. The measure took effect 2025-06-01 and runs for five years.

The Union Cabinet on 12 May 2021 approved the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme "National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage" with a Rs 18,100 crore (~USD 2.4 bn) outlay over five years to build 50 GWh of ACC and 5 GWh of "Niche" ACC manufacturing capacity in India. Selected bidders receive PLI cash incentives over five years on sale of cells made in India, gated on minimum 25% domestic value addition rising to 60% by year five and chemistry-agnostic eligibility (Li-ion, Na-ion, solid-state, flow, lead-acid). The MHI awarded the first 50 GWh tranche on 24 March 2022 (Hyundai Global Motors 20 GWh, Ola Electric 20 GWh, Reliance New Energy Solar 5 GWh, Rajesh Exports 5 GWh) under a QCBS global tender; the Hyundai Global Motors award was withdrawn after Hyundai Motor Company disowned the bidder in August 2022, triggering a re-tender of the orphaned capacity that completed in 2025.