Deadline: 20-Jul-23
The World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) is seeking proposals to support short-term research that promotes knowledge generation and supports policy advocacy with the vision of achieving 100% RE by 2050.
WWF Nepal in partnership with Prakriti Resources Centre and with technical guidance from Alternative Energy Promotion Centre is implementing a three-year project “Multi-Actor Partnerships (MAPs) for Implementing Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) with 100% Renewable Energy (RE) for All in the Global South.” The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany (BMZ) and intends to introduce and consolidate multi-actor partnerships across varied stakeholders – government civil society, business and academia and support in promotion of renewable and energy efficient technologies- with a vision of transitioning towards a 100% renewable energy scenario.
Potential Research Areas
- Applicants are requested to submit their proposals around following broad topics but are encouraged to submit their own ideas that can address major barriers in promotion of RE at scale:
- Political Economic Analysis (PEA) that enables or hinders the vision of 100% RE in Nepal, this can include but not limited to:
- Analysis of Rule of the Game such as provisions in Constitution, Policy, Laws, Acts etc., and norms and practices followed by non-governmental organization and governance system that influence the development of RE.
- Opportunities and challenges for accessing finance for the promotion and scaling up of RE.
- Dejure and Defacto practices in promoting RE in Nepal.
- RE and climate change
- Determining RE mix option for Nepal using the cost and climate risk parameters with case studies.
- Analysis of contribution of RE in NDC.
- Social and economic dimensions of RE
- How to ensure gender just energy transition?
- Inclusive governance system for RE promotion – barriers and solutions.
- Analysis of the affordability and consumer behavior on the pricing levels of e-cooking technologies and related accessories in the entire value chain of the e-cooking ecosystem.
- Understanding the impact of e-cooking support on community adaptability, electrical loads both and economic assessment at different levels of households, transformers etc.
- Technical barrier for scaling up RE
- Improving storage system: pumped hydro storage system and battery powered storage system.
- Improving energy efficiency.
- Potentiality of upscaling of hydrogen and synthetic fuel.
- RE and circular economy
- Improving value chain of green urea and organic fertilizers produced from use of RE technologies.
- Opportunities and challenges for the promotion of waste-to-energy technologies as a viable option for long-term waste management in urban areas.
- Management of waste generated from use of RE technologies (damaged PVs, battery etc.).
- Sustainability of Renewable Energy Technology (RET)
- Factors (including but not limited to socio-cultural, economic, environmental, behavioral, institutional) affecting the sustained use of RE technologies at household, commercial and industrial levels (focus could be one or more technologies, a few examples are solar Irrigation pumps, electric cooking, electric vehicles, electric boilers, etc.).
- Political Economic Analysis (PEA) that enables or hinders the vision of 100% RE in Nepal, this can include but not limited to:
Funding Information
- Grant of up to Rs. 500,000 is available per research. Proposals above the limit will not be considered unless a co-finance is already secured, and documentation is provided. The grant will not support attending conferences, travel to scientific meetings, regular salaries, management fees and overhead costs, and costly laboratory analyses.
- Duration: This call encourages short-term research that can be completed within 2-3 months.
Eligibility Criteria
- This call for proposals invites individuals and organizations with a relevant background in RE such as academic institutions, private sectors, NGOs etc. The research can be conducted by an individual or a team as per the need of the research. In the case of university students conducting the research as a part of their academic degree, supporting documents from the university/supervisor are required specifying the same.
Evaluation Criteria
- Proposals will be evaluated for:
- Demonstrated experience of the individual/team/organization in carrying out similar research (20)
- Clarity of research goals, objectives, and rationale of the research (20)
- Research methodology (20)
- Relevance to Nepal’s NDC with a focus on renewable energy (10)
- Potential for application of the research findings (10)
- Budget rationale (10)
- Contribution to the objectives of MAPs for 100% RE project (5)
- Workplan (5).
For more information, visit WWF.