3rd Call of the ECOWAS Renewable Energy Facility is now opened

ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) launches 3rd EREF Call for proposals. The call is opened and the deadline for submission has been extended until 11 January 2019. However, pre-registrations will only be accepted until 20 December 2018.

ECREEE, Praia, Cabo Verde, 02 November 2018 – The ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE), based in Praia, Cabo Verde, has launched the third call of the ECOWAS Renewable Energy Facility (EREF). The third call of the facility aims to provide non-reimbursable grant co-funding for the capital expenditure in clean energy mini-grids in rural and peri-urban areas, with a specific attention to those initiatives supporting and promoting productive uses of electricity (PUE). The call is opened and the deadline for submission has been extended until 11 January 2019. However, pre-registrations will only be accepted until 20 December 2018.. ECOWAS-based public and private organisations, as well as NGOs are invited to submit proposals in English, French or Portuguese in accordance with the guidelines available at the ECREEE website (www.ecreee.org/eref3). Applicants will need to pre-register on the aforementioned website before being able to submit their proposals on the customized Odyssey portal mini-grid projects at https://ecreee.odysseyenergysolutions.com/.

Proposals covering one or more ECOWAS countries are eligible. The Facility provides a maximum of 300.000 USD per project, while to be eligible a project will have to provide affordable electricity to at least 200 households. Proposals including more than one mini-grid are eligible - hybrid mini-grids where renewable energy contributes to a significant amount of the electricity produced are also eligible.

The Third EREF Call builds on the success on the previous calls, which provided financial support to over 50 projects in the ECOWAS region.

By means of the Facility, ECREEE will be contributing to the implementation of the ECOWAS Renewable Energy Policy (EREP). The EREP defines a 22% target by 2020 for off-grid (mini-grids and stand-alone) share of rural population served from renewable energy. The Facility also contributes to the achievement of the UN Goal on Universal Access to Clean, Reliable and Affordable Energy Services by 2030 and reduction of Greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).

The Third EREF Call for Proposals is supported by the United States Agency for International Development, through the Power Africa Initiative.

More information for interested media and applicants is available at http://www.ecreee.org/eref3.