Publication date: 8 February 2020

Submission date: 29 March 2021

Entity: Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa

Description: Applicants/Lead Applicants deploying and operating Micro-grids may apply for BGFA2 funding for the implementation of project(s) in Mozambique to provide energy services at specified sites. Funding can be used for both deployment and operation of energy services through Micro-grids as well as through Standalone solutions. Standalone solutions can only be offered as a complementary solution to Micro-grid-based solutions for customers that will not be connected to the Micro-grid(s) at the specified sites. Projects proposing the deployment of exclusively Standalone solutions are not eligible for BGFA2 funding.

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Publication date: 14 December 2020

Submission date: 22 January 2021

Entity: Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF)

Description: REACT Sub-Saharan Africa (REACT SSA) is a US$61 million project funded by the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA) to support renewable energy in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a dedicated funding of US$ 8.5 million for Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) and Somaliland. The programme seeks to reduce poverty through a transformational increase in the use of renewable energy by off-grid households in the FGS and Somaliland. Its outcome will be private sector investment and innovation in low cost clean energy and climate change catalysed at scale.

The objectives of the REACT SSA Programme are to:

1. Support transformational business models adapted to target markets in order to accelerate access to low cost, clean energy i.e. cleaner fuels, cook stoves, alternatives to grid power.
2. Support commercially viable companies and markets in the FGS and Somaliland, out of which 25 percent will be women owned and/or managed.
3. Support innovative ideas that stimulate next generation approaches in the renewable energy sector in Sub-Saharan Africa.
4. Capture and disseminate lessons on how increased access to clean energy can deliver positive impact on the rural poor, especially women and youth, through: i) business models, ii) improved business environment, through policy influencing and advocacy, and iii) improved business environment through crowding in, replication and copying best practice.
5. Stimulate stakeholder engagements for an improved policy, legal and regulatory environment for renewable energy businesses within the FGS and Somaliland. 

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Publication date: 25 June 2020

Submission date: 30 July 2020

Entity: Powering Renewable Energy Opportunities (PREO) 

Description: The Carbon Trust and Energy 4 Impact are excited to announce the launch of the Powering Renewable Energy Opportunities (PREO) Programme, promoting clean energy in sub-Saharan Africa to boost long-term job creation and reduce poverty through economic growth and women empowerment.

Backed by the IKEA Foundation with co-funding from UK Aid and delivered jointly by the Carbon Trust and Energy 4 Impact, PREO will provide support to locally-relevant energy projects and partnerships that use a market-led approach to expand productive use of energy (PUE) in rural areas through:

• Grant funding to stimulate investment and income-generating activities;
• Partnership building support to bring various actors together for specific projects and programmes;
• Offering advisory services to companies involved in PUE, including market intelligence, partnering and financing advice.

PREO has launched today (25th June 2020) its first round of calls for proposals for Action Learning Projects and Innovative Supply-chain Based Partnerships that have the potential to stimulate productive electricity demand and improve employment and incomes in off-grid areas in sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa).

Eligible projects will receive grants in the range of €100,000 and €300,000 and will be judged against a number of criteria including, their potential contribution to socio-economic development in the form of livelihoods opportunities, local employment, income and value creation, women economic empowerment, as well as replicability and scalability of the projects.

In addition to stimulating productive use of energy and economic activity, successful applicants are expected to undertake action research, gather and evaluate socio-economic impact data, and share learnings.

The window of opportunity for expression of interest is open for five weeks and runs until 30th July 2020.

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Submission date: 25 June 2020

Entity: ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE)

Description: The ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) and Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), represented by its Regional Programme on Energy Security and Climate Change in Subs-Saharan Africa, are launching the 2nd cycle of the ECOWAS Research Grant Program. 

They are inviting research teams to submit proposals for policy research in any of the energy fields (e.g. energy technologies, energy finance, energy economics, energy policy, energy and the environment/climate change, energy and development, energy law etc.) Teams will receive a grant amount of not more than €1500 to contribute to the formulation of evidence-based energy policies or strategies in the region.

The Research Grant Program is part of the ECOWAS initiative on Youth Leadership Development in Energy, which works to prepare the region’s young men and women to become globally competitive energy leaders in the future. Aligned with the initiative’s objective, the Research Grant Program aims to build and strengthen the capacity of young West Africans to contribute and participate actively in the energy discourse at the national and regional levels and, thus, ensure that the youth has a say in the way energy development is shaped in West Africa. This aligns with the mission of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung to improve the political and social framework for climate friendly sustainable development, as well as stronger regional and international cooperation on energy security and climate adaptation/mitigation plans in the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Program will, thus, support research teams with research proposals that are ambitious and innovative, and aimed at generating new knowledge for decision making.

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Publication date: 21 January 2020

Submission date: 15 March 2020

Entity: Efficiency for Access

Description: Up to £2 million in funding has been made available for the third call of the Efficiency for Access Research and Development (R&D) Fund. The Fund is primarily supported by UK aid and the IKEA Foundation. Applications are open to R&D projects developing enabling technologies for off- and weak-grid areas with a particular focus on inclusivity and interoperability.

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Donor: Israel Innovation Authority

Donor Countries: Israel

Description: Funding R&D activities that identify how to adapt products for emerging markets.

Location:  Sub Saharan Africa

On- or Off-Grid: Both

Geography: Africa, China, India, Latin America

Eligibility: Criteria as defined, from time to time, in the call for proposal

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Donor: Israel Innovation Authority

Donor Countries: Israel

Description: Support for Israeli R&D projects targeted at developing markets in the areas of health, water, agriculture and possible additional fields, e.g. energy. Annual competitive process offering conditional loans of up to 90% funding for R&D projects.

Location:  Sub Saharan Africa

On- or Off-Grid: Both

Geography: Global

Eligibility: Criteria as defined, from time to time, in the call for proposal

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Donors: The Chief Scientist Unit at the Ministry of Energy

Donor Countries: Israel

Description: R&D grants within academia and industry to train professional manpower and encourage advanced high-tech ventures in the energy industry.

Location:  Sub Saharan Africa

On- or Off-Grid: Both

Eligibility:  Criteria as defined, from time to time, in the call for proposal

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Donor: Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth

Donor Countries: Sweden

Description: Local actors receive financing to help them import technologies which offer solutions to local environmental challenges. Open to purchasers of environmental engineering in any of the partner countries and contractors/organizations with new environmental technology interested in partnerships in one of the partner countries. Environmental technologies must be adapted to local conditions.

Locations:  Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia

On- or Off-Grid: Not Specified

Geography: The program will be implemented in 11 of Sida's cooperation countries, of which the following in Africa: Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia.

Eligibility: Swedish companies that want to apply must have an established partnership with a company/organization in the selected country. The technology must help solve an environmental problem, being new to the country and adapted to local conditions/appropriate.

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Donors: Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF), Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), Danish International Development Cooperation (DANIDA), Department for International Development (DFID), Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DGIS), Government of Australia (GoA), Government of Canada (GoC), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Swedish International Development Agency (Sida)

Donor Countries: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Multi-donor, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom

Description: Fund under development and will become operational late 2016. A potential new REACT round focused on household solar. "Pioneer" grants and possibly interest-free loans. A program of AGRA: KPMG fund manager to April 2017 A new AECF entity under AGRA to manage AECF early 2017.

Locations:  Malawi, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Zimbabwe

On- or Off-Grid: Off-Grid

Geography: Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and possibly Sierra Leone

Eligibility: Not Specified

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Donor: United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA)

Donor Countries: United States of America

Description: Grant support open to project developers and host governments for feasibility studies, technical assistance, pilot projects & other project planning activities. Support for project right up to project implementation.

Location:  Sub Saharan Africa

On- or Off-Grid: Both

Geography: Low- and middle-income countries, with priority given to select countries in each region.

Eligibility: Grant recipients must be host country entities and are required to select U.S. firms to perform USTDA-funded activities. Project must: (1) be likely to receive implementation financing, and in addition, have a procurement process that provides "equal access" to U.S. firms; (2) represent an opportunity for sales of U.S. goods and services that is many times greater than the initial investment of USTDA assistance; (3) be a development priority of the project sponsor and country where the project is located and have the endorsement of the U.S. Embassy in that nation. It may also involve U.S. companies that are facing market entry problems and/or strong competition from foreign companies which often receive subsidies and other support from their governments.

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Donor: United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Donor Countries: United States of America

Description: Program focuses on household & community-scale renewable technologies such as solar home systems, fuel-efficient cook stoves & micro-grids.

Locations:  Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe

On- or Off-Grid: Off-Grid

Geography: Anywhere USAID has a presence

Eligibility: Available for buy-in by USAID operating units

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Donors: Duke Energy, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA)

Donor Countries: Germany, Sweden, United States of America

Description: Powering Agriculture: An Energy Grand Challenge for Development supports the development and deployment of clean energy innovations that increase agriculture productivity and stimulate low carbon economic growth in the agriculture sector of developing countries to help end extreme poverty and extreme hunger.

Location:  Sub Saharan Africa

On- or Off-Grid: Off-Grid

Geography: Sub Saharan Africa

Eligibility: Subject to PAEGC screening and eligibility criteria. See website to determine when applications are being accepted

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Donor: French Treasury

Donor Countries: France

Description: Grants, Concessional and Non Concessional Loans, State to State Loans

Location:  Sub Saharan Africa

On- or Off-Grid: Both

Geography: Sub Saharan Africa

Eligibility: Compliance with the OECD Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits rules

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Donors: Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA)

Donor Countries: Sweden, United States of America

Description: United States Trade and Development Agency (USAID) and SIDA with USD$1 million - USD$5 million Fund aims to bring modern clean energy access to one million Zambians and jump-start the country’s burgeoning markets for energy services. The Fund will directly support private enterprises in the off-grid energy space through an innovative new results-based financing approach. Fund for Private enterprises in the off-grid energy space.

Location:  Zambia

On- or Off-Grid: Off-Grid

Geography: Zambia

Eligibility: Private enterprises in the off-grid energy space.

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Donors: General Electric (GE), United States African Development Foundation (USADF), United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Donor Countries: United States of America

Description: Provides grants of up to $100,000 each to African-owned and operated enterprises, associations, or organizations providing off-grid solutions that deploy renewable resources and power local economic activities. For development stage, scale-up stage or to extend use of current product.

Location:  Other

On- or Off-Grid: Off-Grid

Geography: Select Sub Saharan Africa countries

Eligibility: Applicants must provide off-grid solutions that deploy renewable resources and power local economic activities

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Donor: Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD)

Donor Countries: Norway

Description: Grant funding for feasibility studies, training related to establishment of Environmental Health and Safety and pilot production.

Location:  Sub Saharan Africa

On- or Off-Grid: Both

Geography: Projects in least developed countries, countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in long-term cooperation countries for Norwegian Official Development Assistance.

Eligibility: Prioritized Sectors - Energy At least NOK 10 million in turnover for the last year. Ownership of at least 25% in the established/ planned company

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Donor: Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)

Donor Countries: United States of America

Description: Grant funding of approximately $1.5 billion to support Power Africa through compacts and threshold programs that improve the quality and reliability of electricity and promote climate-smart measures, such as energy efficiency and renewable energy. MCC is also assisting governments in the preparation of potential projects while also helping to establish regulatory and institutional structures needed to promote private investment, early stage support as well as general Host Government/Sector support as well as private sector support.

Location:  Sub Saharan Africa

On- or Off-Grid: Both

Geography: Sub Saharan Africa

Eligibility: 4-Stage Selection Process (a Threshold Program is also available for selected countries that do not qualify for the Compact)

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Donors: Acumen Fund Inc., Green Climate Fund (GCF)

Donor Countries: Multi-donor, United States of America

Description: GCF anchor investment of $20 million equity + $5 million grant; fund is targeting 10-15 investments, focused in East Africa initially - in parallel raising $10 million Technical Assistance Facility.

Location: East Africa Region, Kenya, Rwanda

On- or Off-Grid: Not Specified

Geography: Kenya, Rwanda, with possible further expansion into East Africa

Eligibility: Not Specified

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Donor: Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)

Donor Countries: Japan

Description: ODA Grants are the provisions of funds to developing countries that have low income levels, without the obligation of repayment. ODA Grants are used for developing power infrastructure.

Location:  Sub Saharan Africa

On- or Off-Grid: Both

Geography: Sub Saharan Africa

Eligibility: JICA Criteria

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