Deadline: 17-Nov-20
Applications are open for The GET.invest Finance Catalyst that links renewable energy projects and companies with finance opportunities and vice versa, targeting small- and medium-scale renewable energy opportunities, currently in sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific region.
It provides advisory support on investment strategy, business case structuring, as well as accessing finance through a team of dedicated experts with extensive experience in renewable energy project development and finance.
Many of these projects and companies are challenging for financiers to engage in due to their relatively small ticket size and due to the financiers’ limited experience with these technologies and new business models. Project and business developers may lack the experience, networks or time to identify appropriate sources of finance, resulting in high transaction costs and few projects reaching financial close.
Services
The Finance Catalyst team works with project developers and companies to mobilise finance and investment. They connect selected applicants to development finance institutions (DFIs), impact investors and commercial financiers by providing in-kind advisory (but no direct financial support).
The Finance Catalyst delivers deliver through a lean, non-bureaucratic setup, and an à la carte portfolio of services:
- Investment strategy geared at applicants at a relatively early stage, but with concrete financing prospects, and providing guidance on the necessary steps of the project and business development in order to ensure completeness and quality.
- Structuring support advising on essential aspects of the business case and financing models, and supporting developers towards structuring their propositions in a way that corresponds to the needs and expectations of financiers.
- Access to finance support to identify appropriate financing options and to align documentation with the specific requirements of financing and support instruments.
- Transaction support to provide assistance in the contractual negotiations during project preparation and business development, for instance covering aspects of the financing transaction, term sheets, contractual agreements with specialised advisory, or the fulfilment of conditions precedent.
Eligibility Criteria
The regular, long-term support of the GET.invest Finance Catalyst is available to all applicants that meet the following minimum criteria:
- Only projects and businesses with a cumulative generation capacity between 0.5-50 MW or aggregated investments in the range of €250,000 to €70 million are eligible.
- Note: For applicants requesting fast-tracked support during the Covid-19 crisis, this is substituted with the following minimum criteria that need to be met in order to allow us to deploy support efficiently:
- The equivalent of €100,000 of turnover over the past 12 months as a proxy to justify the allocation of individual coaches and the associated cost;
- A minimum of 5 staff employed (salary or results-based) as a proxy for the job impact of the crisis, and as an indicator for the cash needs of the company;
- The business can demonstrate it had a sustainable funding plan at the end of February until 1 May 2020 (i.e. no funding gap before 1 May 2020).
- The major part of the scope must be a renewable energy system investment. Hybrid systems with a reasonable share of renewable generation capacity are also eligible.
- Supported models may comprise electricity generation, electricity distribution (in the case of mini-grids and stand-alone systems), mechanical energy and industrial / process heat or cooling, as well as clean cooking. Transmission projects or biofuels are not eligible.
- Proposals must be conceptualised as revenue-generating and meet a minimum economic viability and sustainability threshold.
- Applicants must be located in (or proceeds to be used in) sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean or the Pacific region. (Please note there is no link between the countries covered in the ‘Market Information’ section on this website and the countries in which you can receive support from the Finance Catalyst. Applications for all countries that form part of the sub-Saharan Africa, Caribbean and Pacific region are eligible for support.)
- Eligible applicants may be private sector developers (local and international), NGOs, universities or research institutions. Preference is given to projects with a significant private-sector representation.
Application Process
The application process has the following steps:
- Click on the link provided on their website to provide your contact details. You will then immediately receive a confirmation email from their portal Climate Invest.
- When opening the email, click on the verification link. You will be asked to create your own account and password. Your password requires at least one uppercase letter (A-Z) and at least one number (0-9).
- Use your email address and password to log into their application portal.
For more information, visit https://www.get-invest.eu/finance-catalyst/access/