Deadline: 31-Jan-23
Energy Transition Partnership is pleased to launch the Call for Proposals for “Energy Efficiency Innovation Window Round 4” with an aim to provide early-stage grant financing for innovative approaches to address the systemic problem of under-investment into energy efficiency in Southeast Asia.
Purpose
The Call seeks proposals for grant funding focused on innovations (in either technologies, business models or engagement approaches) that address one or more of the categories of (i) Project Development Support; (ii) Access to Energy Efficiency Finance; and (iii) Facilitation of Public Policy Implementation for Energy Efficiency.
Categories
- All proposed activities shall be conducted in close coordination with and based on instructions of the ETP Secretariat. All deliverables are subject to review and endorsement of ETP Secretariat, and where applicable, donor collaboration.
- The EE Innovation Window will seek proposals for funding focused on innovations (in either technologies, business models or engagement approaches) that address one or more of the following three categories:
- Category 1: Project Development Support
- EE Innovation Window will provide grants for the development of EE projects, and for tools and approaches that support such project development. Local project developers often have limited capacity and/or experience to conceive of and design bankable projects in key sectors such as buildings and industrial facilities. However, there are many standardized project development approaches and tools that can assist in developing EE projects, including in how to assess and verify data, how to perform audits and design energy conservation measures, how to perform project measurement and verification (M&V), and how to administer projects operationally over time. Wider implementation of such best-practice approaches, and improvements of general “literacy” in relation to development of viable business cases for EE projects, will result in greater uptake of energy efficiency technologies and investments.
- Category 2: Access to Energy Efficiency Finance
- EE Innovation Window will provide grants to support initiatives and approaches that can increase or expand access to financing for energy efficiency.there is an urgent need to create better linkages between the appetite for EE investment and the needs of investors (across local financing institutions, banks and private investors, international financial institutions and development banks, and global and national climate funds). This also applies to the financing requirements of local EE project owners and those who advise them. There are a range of mechanisms by which this linkage can be achieved, many of them nascent in Southeast Asia, such as:
- Project aggregation models for similar technologies across different organizations (e.g., municipal street lighting, building retrofitting for cooling, rooftop solar installations, EV fleet conversions, etc) that allow for a series of smaller projects to be “bundled” to reach a critical scale for investment.
- Project intermediaries and Super-ESCO-style approaches, which can attract stronger financial backing than smaller ESCOs. These approaches create confidence in, and can help to service, larger projects and reduce perceived credit risk.
- Better measurement and verification of the energy savings revenue stream at the project level, to build confidence in energy savings streams and to allow investors to apply a project financing approach, rather than simply use balance sheet financing.
- Innovative products such as energy savings insurance or other de-risking products, to address concerns that financiers may have with EE project risk. Such mechanisms have been studied, developed and to some extent deployed in other countries, and ETP could play a significant role in providing knowledge and assisting in creating similar financing mechanisms to support local EE project development in its target countries.
- EE Innovation Window will provide grants to support initiatives and approaches that can increase or expand access to financing for energy efficiency.there is an urgent need to create better linkages between the appetite for EE investment and the needs of investors (across local financing institutions, banks and private investors, international financial institutions and development banks, and global and national climate funds). This also applies to the financing requirements of local EE project owners and those who advise them. There are a range of mechanisms by which this linkage can be achieved, many of them nascent in Southeast Asia, such as:
- Category 3: Facilitation of Public Policy Implementation for Energy Efficiency
- The EE Innovation Window will provide grants for the development of EE projects and initiatives specifically targeting the public sector. The public sector is often responsible for policies and regulations that can hinder EE investment—e.g., when government budget and procurement regulations hinder the ability of government units to carry out EE projects with ESCOs using a shared-savings or performance contracting approach. On the other hand, the public sector can create enabling conditions that can facilitate and accelerate EE investment, and government procurement can also be used as a pro-active tool to demonstrate EE technologies and business models. Proposals submitted under this category could include initiatives that address policy and regulatory gaps and opportunities; initiatives focused on public-sector procurement practices and guidelines, with the aim to promote more efficient equipment and services; or pilot public-private partnerships that bring together private capital and resources to finance or support the implementation of public-sector infrastructure
- The EE Innovation Window will accept proposals for funding in any of these three categories for direct funding. Relevant proposals that cannot be funded through this call may be referred to ETP’s partner organizations for their consideration for input and support.
- Category 1: Project Development Support
- The key target beneficiary group(s) of the EE Innovation Window comprise EE project developers and owners, their technical advisors, potential investors, and government agencies involved in energy efficiency projects and businesses. EE project developers and owners may include private companies, civil society organizations, non-profit entities, sub-national governments, or energy sector institutions such as utilities and other market intermediaries. Entities are eligible as long as the grant project does not have the purpose of directly producing a financial profit. Grants to eligible entities can allow for a reasonable recovery of a grantee’s overhead or operational costs up to a limit of 10% of the total project amount.
Eligibility Criteria
- Limitations: This Call for Proposals will select one or more successful Proposals
- Organizations must have demonstrated and proven experience in working in Southeast Asia or a combitnation of different geographic regions of at least 2 in Asia and the Pacific and elsewhere.
- Limited to entities with proven experience (of at least 2 years) in project implementation, research, policy development and analysis, and/or capacity building activities in energy transition or climate action in line with the Paris Agreement.
- The applicant organization must be eligible to sign a legal contract with UNOPS
- Entities are eligible as long as the grant project does not have the purpose of producing a direct financial profit.
- Grantees must pass the UNOPS due diligence requirements before final grant signing.
Minimum requirements/qualifications:
- The EEIW will select projects for grant funding and will guide their implementation phase towards activities that create improved market conditions and “bankability” of energy efficiency projects, and that subsequently catalyse increased public investment and foreign direct investment in energy efficiency in the target countries. Established UNOPS policies and procedures will be followed in the selection of the grantee and in the management of the grant implementation.
- Eligible Technologies and Approaches: Eligible technologies and interventions include any that address any of the categories of Category 1: Project Development Support; Category 2: Access to EE Finance; Category 3: Facilitation of Policy Implementation for Energy Efficiency, and also those that directly address one or more of the barriers to EE investment listed through A-E in Part 1 of the EEIW Concept Note (attached). Only proposals that address the needs, or other innovative technologies and interventions will be considered eligible for funding. In addition, eligible technologies and interventions include the following:
- Interventions that cover energy efficiency or increased productivity in the commercial, industrial or residential sectors, or efficiency-focused applications in transportation;
- Smart metering, monitoring and energy use information and data;
- Smart grid and control technologies;
- residential and commercial building construction and retrofitting – insulation and building envelope measures, lighting, heating and cooling (including space cooling and refrigeration), appliances, control systems, building integrated PV, hot water production;
- Industrial energy performance – electric motors, drives, pumps, air compressors, boilers and thermal equipment, economizers;
- training and/or certification programs for practitioners in component parts of project development, such as energy auditing, understanding and delivering M&V for energy savings, EE project finance, and other capacity building required by the project owner.; and
- innovative approaches and support to the development of effective and innovative energy efficiency policies, that have potential to inform and influence public policy towards energy efficiency investment.
- The initial geographic scope for interventions funded by the EE Innovation Window will be Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Applications for interventions and innovations that may be relevant across more than one country in this grouping (including across the Southeast Asian countries) are also accepted.
Other critical considerations:
- Proven past performance will be strongly considered when selecting the most suitable proposal.
- Experience in capacity and professional development on energy transition, solar, wind, energy efficiency, energy regulation, grid modernization, transitional energy economics in policy, regulation, investment programming for renewable energy and energy efficiency and smart grids and access to finance will be a strong asset;
- Research and policy analysis expertise in the following sectors will be considered a strong advantage: energy, solar, wind, energy efficiency, grid modernization and smart grids, capacity development in the energy and energy transition domain;
- Expertise in assessing sustainable development impacts and transformational change potential of energy and transitional energy sector policies and programming will be an asset;
- Past performance will be strongly considered when selecting the most suitable proposal. History working with public and private sector clients, especially in developing countries, particularly in Southeast Asia countries, shall be provided, by completing the provided experience history form attached to the proposal.
- Gender Considerations: The applicant must include a proposal that demonstrates its commitment to support gender equality and women’s empowerment through its operations. The evaluation will consider the applicants’ feedback to these criteria as part of the evaluation process.
For more information, visit ETP.