The RES Group is the list of 34 projects whose total NER300 funding requests serve to determine the split of the NER300 pot between CCS and renewable energy projects. Projects that are in the RES Group stand a much higher chance than those that are not of ultimately receiving funding.

Procedures Manual Appendix A9 point 11 describes how to populate the RES Group in case there are subcategories with no projects and where overall, in the category to which the subcategory belongs, there are at least an equal number of eligible proposals as subcategories. But it is silent on how to deal with a situation that has arisen twice in the first call: the case where there are fewer projects put forward in a category than there are subcategories in the category. This happens twice: for the HYD category (0 proposals for 1 subcategory) and the GEO category (3 proposals for 4 subcategories).

Perhaps the fairest way to choose proposals to replace these absent ones would be to look at those subcategories that have been most oversubscribed in the first call and to take proposals from them. This would respond to the evident demand for funding in those areas. Furthermore, the EC could be confident of picking out a proposal that represents good value for money because these subcategories are the ones where competition is strongest. The subcategories having the highest numbers of proposals are thought to be WINd (floating wind turbines 25 MW) and BIOd (biofuels from directly-heated gasification).