Energy Catalyst Round 9 – Late Stage

Fund Details

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:

• creating new energy access in unserved regions
• improving existing access to provide a more reliable service

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:

• identify the main beneficiaries
• describe how you will mitigate any negative effects
• provide a plan of how to address both gender and social inclusion during the life of your project
• explain how your project will encourage equality

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:

• next generation solar technologies and business models
• smart green grids, including mini and main grid related technologies
• energy storage, including batteries and mechanical storage
• low carbon hydrogen
• modern cooking
• low energy inclusive appliances
• leave no one behind, specifically technologies and business models
• targeting poor or marginalised groups or fragile contexts
• sustainable cooling

Eligibility

Your project must:

• have total costs between £50,000 and £5 million
• start by 1 April 2023
• end by 31 March 2026
• last between 6 months and 36 months
• intend to use the results to help deliver clean energy access in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, or the Indo-Pacific
• involve at least one partner with a legal entity in one of the focus countries in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia or the Indo-Pacific region, this could include in-country offices
• include a UK registered administrative lead
• if you are an international organisation, partner with a UK administrative lead
• involve at least one micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) from anywhere in the world

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:

• be registered in the UK
• claim grant funding through this competition

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:

• can be from anywhere in the world
• must claim grant funding through this competition
• must be a business of any size
• UK registered organisations can be both the administrative and technical lead if the criteria is met for both types of leads.

Talk to us today if you would like to apply for this opportunity.