Energy Catalyst Round 9 - Late Stage
6-36 months
£50k-£5m
10.08.2022
The aim of this competition is to accelerate the innovations needed to create new or improved clean energy access in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia or the Indo-Pacific region.
Check Your Eligibility
To be in scope for Energy Catalyst round 9, your project must address all three of the following areas:
1. Energy access
Improving energy access in official development assistance (ODA) eligible countries in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia or the Indo-Pacific region.
Your project must aim to speed up access to affordable, clean energy services for poor households, enterprises and social institutions in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia or the Indo-Pacific region. It must do this by supporting the development, testing or scale up of innovative technologies or business models.
A clear social or economic benefit in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia or the Indo-Pacific Region is required.
This can include:
Your project must target one or more of the following eligible countries.
Sub-Saharan Africa:
Angola
Benin
Botswana
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cabo Verde
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Chad
Comoros
Congo
Côte d’Ivoire
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Djibouti
Eritrea
Eswatini (Swaziland)
Ethiopia
Equatorial Guinea
Gabon
Gambia
Ghana
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Kenya
Lesotho
Liberia
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Mauritania
Mozambique
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria
Rwanda
Sao Tome and Principe (may be ineligible from 13 December 2024)
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
South Sudan
Sudan
Tanzania
Togo
Uganda
Zambia
Zimbabwe
South Asia:
Afghanistan
Bangladesh
India (only as part of multi country projects)
Maldives
Nepal
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
Indo-Pacific (ODA eligible ASEAN):
Cambodia
Indonesia
Laos
Malaysia
Myanmar
Philippines
Thailand
Timor-Leste (not officially part of ASEAN)
Vietnam
Indo-Pacific (Pacific Islands):
Federated States of Micronesia
Fiji
Kiribati
Marshall islands
Papua New Guinea (PNG)
Samoa
Solomon Islands
Tonga
Tuvalu
Vanuatu
2.Clean Energy
Your technology or business model must create clean energy which is:
1. Affordable
2. Reliable
3. Low carbon.
3.Gender equality and social inclusion (GESI)
Your application must take into account gender equality and social inclusion issues. You must demonstrate all of the following in your response and logic model:
Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) funding
FCDO is providing up to £10 million of funding in this competition. Although FCDO is willing to consider funding any technology which meets the above criteria, including solution integrations across multiple technology areas, they are prioritising projects focused in the following Ayrton Challenge areas:
Your project must:
Lead organisation
There are two types of leads in energy catalyst, an administrative lead, who will start the application and a technology lead.
An administrative lead is there to act as the recipient of the award and will distribute funding to all other partners. This is known as a ‘hub and spoke’ model when there is an international partner in the consortium. The administrative lead will manage and be accountable for the finances of the project in accordance with the terms and conditions of the award.
The administrative lead must:
A technology lead will lead on the development of the scope, work packages within the project and other work from a technical perspective.
The technology lead: