Deadline: 15 January 2020
The Renewable Energy Performance Platform (REPP) has issued a gender-themed request for proposals (RFPs) targeting women-led renewable energy projects in Africa.
By focusing on women in particular, UK-government funded REPP is aiming to channel sources of funding to help create equal opportunities for women in the continent’s rapidly expanding renewable energy sector.
Benefits
- Development phase capital and support: REPP provides loans for selected third-party development expenses (such as feasibility studies, environmental and social impact assessments, legal advice etc.), financial structuring support and general project guidance.
- Access to risk mitigation instruments: REPP helps projects and developers to access appropriate risk mitigation instruments provided by third-party providers. These instruments would typically focus on risks that cannot be cost-effectively managed by the private sector – in particular, political, regulatory, currency and offtaker risk.
- Access to long-term lending: REPP helps developers to structure project finances in the right way, and to secure finance from REPP partners and other sources of capital – both private and public.
- Gap financing: REPP helps to bring projects to financial close by providing funding using an array of finance products ranging from equity to senior debt.
- Technical assistance: REPP also supports developers with business planning, training, workshops and seminars, and facilitating learning and exchange between developers.
Eligibility Criteria
- Entities eligible for REPP funding:
- Majority woman-owned or led private sector entities that have a renewable energy project under development;
- Private sector entities or projects whose focus is to promote economic empowerment of women through enabling the productive use of energy for women as end users, and/or access to energy finance for female entrepreneurs.
- Technologies Supported
- Biogas, Biomass, Geothermal, Grid-Connected Solar PV, Mini-Grids (off-grid, powered by renewable energy), Solar Home, Systems (off-grid), Run-Of-River Hydropower, Waste-To-Energy, Wind.
- Project sizes Supported
- Projects must be between 1MW and 25MW (but can be up to 50MW for wind), and can be grid-connected, captive or off-grid.
- REPP’s Areas of Operation
- All countries in Eastern, Western, Southern and Central Africa except for DAC 4 countries (i.e. South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Gabon) are eligible for REPP funding.
- Proof of additionality and transformational impact
- REPP will only support projects where there is clear evidence of additionality, which broadly means that the project would not or would be unlikely to progress in a reasonable timeframe without REPP support. REPP also looks for opportunities to not only support good projects, but to ensure they have “spill-over effects”, so as to transform the broader market for renewable energy in the country or region.
- Environmental and social requirements
- All REPP investees are expected to rigorously adhere to its Environmental and Social Policy and Procedures, which are closely based around the IFC’s and EIB’s environmental and social performance standards. Any recipient of REPP support must assess the environmental and social impacts of its projects and develop a management system in accordance with those standards.
For more information, visit https://repp.energy/resource-center/news/repp-issues-gender-themed-request-for-proposals/