EU Call for Proposals: Promoting Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Support to Lebanon’s Clean Energy Transition

Deadline: 28 May 2019

The European Union (EU) is currently accepting proposals to Promote Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Support to Lebanon’s Clean Energy Transition.

The global objective of this call for proposals is: to address job creation and growth in support of Lebanon’s stagnated economy (in line with the first priority sector of the Single Support Framework for EU Support to Lebanon 2017-2020), while supporting Climate Change Mitigation in Lebanon.

The specific objective of this call for proposals is: to promote innovation, entrepreneurship and job creation in support of Lebanon’s clean energy transition and Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) for the energy sector.

Priorities

The priorities of this call for proposals are:

• Lot 1: To encourage synergies between green entrepreneurs, innovation promoters and SMEs (E-I-SMEs), as well as new business opportunities in renewable energy. Focus will be on various sources of renewable energy (solar, bioenergy, wind, etc.).
• Lot 2: To encourage the private sector, including Energy Services Companies (ESCOs), investing in alternative sources of energy, and therefore gradually contributing to reducing the environmental impact of production activities (industries, businesses) and de-carbonising the Lebanese economy. This lot will build on national measures to promote the development of an ESCOs market and will focus on various sources of renewable energy (solar, bioenergy, wind, etc.).
• Lot 3: To upgrade public and non-operational renewable energy equipment through the set-up of new (financially viable) repair and recycling processes (through assisting with the retrofitting of existing non-functioning installations and equipment). Focus will mainly be on solar energy, which is a renewable energy source that has been increasingly encouraged and developed these last years in Lebanon (photovoltaic (PV) solar panels and batteries).

Funding Information

Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:

• Lot 1:
  • minimum amount: EUR 2,500,000
  • maximum amount: EUR 6,000,000
• Lot 2:
  • minimum amount: EUR 800,000
  • maximum amount: EUR 2,000,000
• Lot 3:
  • minimum amount: EUR 1,000,000
  • maximum amount: EUR 1,500,000

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead applicant
  • In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
    • Lot 1:
      • be a legal person and
      • be non-profit-making and
      • be a specific type of organisation such as: international (inter-governmental) organisation as defined by Article 43 of the rules of application (previous EU Financial Regulation) and of Article 156 of the EU Financial Regulation, and/or
      • be a Member State Organisations (Article 157 of the EU Financial Regulation)
      • For British applicants: Please be aware that eligibility criteria must be complied with for the entire duration of the grant. Unless sector-specific eligibility rules provide otherwise, if the United Kingdom withdraws from the EU during the grant period without concluding an agreement with the EU ensuring in particular that British applicants continue to be eligible, applicants will cease to receive EU funding (while continuing, where possible to participate) or will be required to leave the project on the basis of Article 12 (change of the legal situation of the beneficiary) of the grant agreement.
      • This obligation does not apply to international organisations.
      • be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary
    • Lot 2:
      • be a legal person and
      • be non-profit-making and
      • be a specific type of organisation such as: non-governmental organisation, international (inter-governmental) organisation as defined by Article 43 of the rules of application (previous EU Financial Regulation) and of Article 156 of the EU Financial Regulation.
      • For non-governmental organisation (NGO), the latter should be an in-country NGO, with its headquarters in Lebanon, be constituted for at least two years at the time of the submission of an application and officially registered with the Lebanese competent authorities or be an EU Member State NGO registered for at least three years at the time of the submission of the application, or be an NGO established in an ENI country officially registered according to the relevant legislation in force in that country. These obligations do not apply to international organisations. If the lead applicant does not have its headquarter in Lebanon or if it is an international organisation, then it should mandatorily act with co-applicants that are local NGOs from Lebanon. EU Member State NGOs are eligible insofar their experience adds value, and upon conditions that their actions respond to a local demand and to locally identified needs, and include support to local partners.
      • be established in all eligible countries as stipulated in the basic act/CIR (Regulations EU No 232 & 236/2014 of the European Parliament and the Council of 11th March 2014)
      • For British applicants: Please be aware that eligibility criteria must be complied with for the entire duration of the grant. Unless sector-specific eligibility rules provide otherwise, if the United Kingdom withdraws from the EU during the grant period without concluding an agreement with the EU ensuring in particular that British applicants continue to be eligible, applicants will cease to receive EU funding (while continuing, where possible to participate) or will be required to leave the project on the basis of Article 12 (change of the legal situation of the beneficiary) of the grant agreement.
      • This obligation does not apply to international organisations.
      • be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary.
    • Lot 3:
      • be a legal person and
      • be non-profit-making and
      • be a specific type of organisation such as: non-governmental organisation, international (inter-governmental) organisation as defined by Article 43 of the rules of application(previous EU Financial Regulation) and of Article 156 of the EU Financial Regulation (please also see footnote 9).
      • For non-governmental organisation (NGO), the latter should be an in-country NGO, with its headquarters in Lebanon, be constituted for at least two years at the time of the submission of an application and officially registered with the Lebanese competent authorities or be an EU Member State NGO registered for at least three years at the time of the submission of the application, or be an NGO established in an ENI country officially registered according to the relevant legislation in force in that country. These obligations do not apply to international organisations. If the lead applicant does not have its headquarter in Lebanon or if it is an international organisation, then it should mandatorily act with co-applicants that are local NGOs from Lebanon. EU Member State NGOs are eligible insofar their experience adds value, and upon conditions that their actions respond to a local demand and to locally identified needs, and include support to local partners.
      • be established in all eligible countries as stipulated in the basic act/CIR (Regulations EU No 232 & 236/2014 of the European Parliament and the Council of 11th March 2014)
      • For British applicants: Please be aware that eligibility criteria must be complied with for the entire duration of the grant. Unless sector-specific eligibility rules provide otherwise, if the United Kingdom withdraws from the EU during the grant period without concluding an agreement with the EU ensuring in particular that British applicants continue to be eligible, applicants will cease to receive EU funding (while continuing, where possible to participate) or will be required to leave the project on the basis of Article 12 (change of the legal situation of the beneficiary) of the grant agreement.
      • This obligation does not apply to international organisations.
      • be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary.
      • Lead applicants, co-applicants, affiliated entities and, in case of legal entities, persons who have powers of representation, decision-making or control over the lead applicant, the co-applicants and the affiliated entities are informed that, should they be in one of the situations of early detection or exclusion according to Section 2.6.10.1 of the practical guide, personal details (name, given name if natural person, address, legal form and name and given name of the persons with powers of representation, decision-making or control, if legal person) may be registered in the early detection and exclusion system, and communicated to the persons and entities concerned in relation to the award or the execution of a grant contract.
  • The lead applicant must act with co-applicant(s) as specified hereafter.
• Co-applicant(s)
  • If the lead applicant is not an organisation established and registered in Lebanon, applicants must act with at least one co-applicant organisation established and registered in Lebanon.
  • The minimum and maximum recommended numbers of co-applicants to be involved in the action are as such:
    • Lot 1: minimum two (2) and maximum of four (4).
    • Lot 2: minimum one (1) and maximum of three (3).
    • Lot 3: minimum one (1) and maximum of two (2).
  • Co-applicants participate in designing and implementing the action, and the costs they incur are eligible in the same way as those incurred by the lead applicant.
  • Co-applicants must satisfy the eligibility criteria as applicable to the lead applicant himself.
  • Lot 1:
    • be non-profit-making and/or profit-making
    • be a specific type of organisation such as: non-governmental organisation, local authority, and/or
    • For non-governmental organisation (NGO), the latter should be an in-country NGO, with its headquarters in Lebanon, be constituted for at least two years at the time of the submission of an application and officially registered with the Lebanese competent authorities or be an EU Member State NGO registered for at least three years at the time of the submission of the application, or be an NGO established in an ENI country officially registered according to the relevant legislation in force in that country. These obligations do not apply to international organisations. If the lead applicant does not have its headquarter in Lebanon or if it is an international organisation, then it should mandatorily act with co-applicants that are local NGOs from Lebanon. EU Member State NGOs are eligible insofar their experience adds value, and upon conditions that their actions respond to a local demand and to locally identified needs, and include support to local partners.
    • be a public university and/or a private university and/or a research center (from Lebanon and/or the EU). All need to be officially registered with the competent authorities, and/or
    • be a business support organisation/service provider (e.g. industry associations, chambers of commerce, business incubator or accelerator, etc.).
  • Lot 2:
    • be non-profit-making and/or profit-making
    • be a specific type of organisation such as: local authority, and/or
    • be a public university and/or a private university and/or a research center (from Lebanon and/or the EU). All need to be officially registered with the competent authorities.
  • Lot 3:
    • be non-profit-making and/or profit-making
    • be a specific type of organisation such as: local authority, and/or
    • be a public university and/or a private university and/or a research center (from Lebanon and/or the EU). All need to be officially registered with the competent authorities.
• Affiliated entities
  • The lead applicant and its co-applicant(s) may act with affiliated entity(ies).
  • Only the following entities may be considered as affiliated entities to the lead applicant and/or to co-applicant(s):
    • Only entities having a structural link with the applicants (i.e. the lead applicant or a co-applicant), in particular a legal or capital link.
    • This structural link encompasses mainly two notions:
      • Control, as defined in Directive 2013/34/EU on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings:
        • Entities affiliated to an applicant may hence be:
          • Entities directly or indirectly controlled by the applicant (daughter companies or first-tier subsidiaries). They may also be entities controlled by an entity controlled by the applicant (granddaughter companies or second-tier subsidiaries) and the same applies to further tiers of control;
          • Entities directly or indirectly controlling the applicant (parent companies). Likewise, they may be entities controlling an entity controlling the applicant;
          • Entities under the same direct or indirect control as the applicant (sister companies).
      • Membership, i.e. the applicant is legally defined as a e.g. network, federation, association in which the proposed affiliated entities also participate or the applicant participates in the same entity (e.g. network, federation, association) as the proposed affiliated entities.

How to Apply

In order to apply for the grants, applicants have to register themselves in PADOR, an on-line database via given website.

For more information, please visit https://bit.ly/2T9nKX7 and download the guidelines.