Financing
Clean Energy Financing
Early-stage grant and repayable grant financing for projects in active development through competitive, open calls for proposals. There have been 17 calls since 2010.
Who Can Apply
During an open call, EEP Africa invites applications from early stage off-grid and on-grid clean energy projects in active development phase in one or more of the target countries. All proposed projects need to demonstrate clear additionality and rationale for EEP Africa funding. Projects are evaluated in terms of Concept Innovation, Development Impact, and Business Model & Financial Sustainability. Additional evaluation criteria are applied in themed calls. In recent calls, grants and repayable grants between EUR 200,000 and EUR 1 million have been awarded, with a minimum co-financing requirement of 30%.
Applicants for funding must meet the eligibility criteria defined in the Application Guidelines for that particular call. All applicants must be registered legal entities for at least six months at the time of the call opening date. Applicants can be registered in any country but need to demonstrate local engagement. Applications should also be aligned with EEP Africa’s priority themes: Gender & Youth, Circular economy & productive uses of energy, Climate change adaptation & resilience, and Leave no one behind.
ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS: Private Companies (including start-ups) and Social Enterprises
TECHNOLOGIES: Residential electricity access, Productive uses of energy (commercial and/or institutional), Mini-grids (AC or DC), Power generation, Clean cooking (residential and/or institutional, stoves and/or fuels), Mobility (electric and/or fuels), Energy efficiency, Other
ENERGY SOURCES: Biofuel (liquid), Biogas, Biomass (solid), Cookstoves, Energy Efficiency, Geothermal, Hydropower, Solar PV, Solar Thermal, Wind Power, Other sources
COUNTRIES: Botswana, Burundi, Comoros, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
PROJECT TYPES: Development phase (Feasibility study or Pilot) or Expansion phase (Replication or Scale-up)
Recent Calls
Open Call (2023)
A general call with an updated application process. Thirty two new grantees approved for financing out of over 400 eligible applications received. Selected projects will begin implementation in 2024.
Themed Calls (2019 and 2020)
In 2019, the gender-themed call focused on creating economic and leadership opportunities for women. Eighteen projects were contracted from the 285 applications submitted. The projects began implementation in 2020.
In 2020, the call focused on productive use of energy and circular economy. Twenty six projects were approved for financing out of 357 applications. The projects began implementation in 2021.
Open Call (2018)
A general call that was the first funding round under the leadership of NDF. Twenty eight projects approved for financing out of 530 applications. The project began implementation in 2019.
