Deadline: 30 August 2017
The Africa-EU Renewable Energy Cooperation Programme (RECP) is seeking proposals for its program entailed “Finance Catalyst” to finance opportunities and vice versa, targeting small- and medium-scale renewable energy projects in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Finance Catalyst team works with project developers to connect qualified projects in renewable energy to development finance institutions (DFIs), project preparation support instruments, impact investors and commercial lenders. The Finance Catalyst delivers through a lean, non-bureaucratic setup, and an à la carte portfolio of services:
- Development support geared at projects at a relatively early stage, but with concrete financing prospects, and providing guidance on the necessary steps of project development in order to ensure completeness and quality;
- Structuring support advising on essential aspects of 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 for projects and to align project documentation with the specific requirements of financing and support instruments;
- Transaction support to provide assistance in the contractual negotiations during project preparation, including (for example) aspects of the financing transaction, term sheets, contractual agreements with specialised advisory, or the fulfilment of conditions precedent.
Grant Information
Only projects with a cumulative generation capacity between 0.5-50 MW or aggregated investments in the range of € 1-70 million are eligible.
Eligibility Criteria
The RECP Finance Catalyst support is available to all project proposals that meet the following minimum criteria:
- Projects must be situated in sub-Saharan Africa;
- Projects may comprise electricity generation, electricity distribution (in the case of mini-grids and standalone systems), mechanical energy and industrial / process heat or cooling. Transmission projects or biofuels / transport projects are not 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;
- There must be a demonstrable connection with one or more European institutions or companies in the project. This could be a private sector stakeholder, a government institution, a university or a research institution.
- The major part of the project’s scope must be a renewable energy system investment. Hybrid systems with a reasonable share of renewable generation capacity are also eligible.
- Projects must be conceptualised as revenue generating and meet a minimum economic viability and sustainability threshold.
How to Apply
Interested applicants should submit their project through the given website.
Eligible Countries: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo DR, Congo-Brazzaville, Cote d Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Reunion, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Western Sahara, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
For more information, please visit RECP Finance Catalyst.