UK-based group offers Euro 1 million to renewable energy projects
LONDON, England, 2004-11-24 Refocus Weekly
Funding of Euro 1 million will be made available to fund renewable energy projects around the world.
The Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Partnership is seeking project
proposals for the period from April 2005 to March 2006. This is the third
funding round to be offered by REEEP, which was established by the British
government in 2002 to promote integration of renewables and energy efficient
systems into national and global energy policy.
REEEP expects to fund 15 projects with an average contribution of Euro 70,000.
The money comes from the UK government Global Opportunities Fund Climate Change
& Energy Programme.
“We will be using the next funding round to leverage further the capability
and potential of renewable energy, and to build on our existing project
record,” says director Marianne Osterkorn. REEEP currently funds 40 renewables
projects around the world and works to provide a blueprint for project finance
and regulatory change that can be replicated elsewhere.
Funding priority for this round will be projects that use “innovative
financing mechanisms to catalyse the uptake” of renewables, or contribute to a
supportive regulative and legal environment. The specific structure of
small-scale and off-grid projects in renewables makes it “vital to leverage
the limited resources available” and to encourage policies and regulations
that overcome market barriers or the perception of risk in new energy markets.
The short-listing of project concepts will place 40% of the emphasis on
relevance to program objectives and 30% on relevance to donor objectives. REEEP
also wants projects to contribute to Millennium Development Goals such as
poverty eradication, education, gender equality and reduction in child
mortality.
Suggestions include the identification of opportunities for innovative
approaches to funding that may be generated through the carbon market and Kyoto
mechanisms, systems which provide a testing ground for Tradable Renewable
Certificates, development of a handbook on renewables for investors and project
developers, and development of training courses for policy makers and
regulators.
The key objective of REEEP is to promote “greater uptake of renewable energy
and more efficient use of energy to help address climate change and enhance
energy security.” It hopes to accelerate the global use of renewables
(“particularly in rapidly industrialising countries critical to the success of
international efforts to tackle climate change and promote energy security”),
and improve access to energy for the poorest countries, especially in Africa and
those beyond the reach of the national grid.
Britain will chair both the G8 and the EU next year, and “REEEP will play a
major role in increasing the momentum towards global action on renewable energy
and energy efficiency,” the group notes.
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