Deadline: 16 December 2019

The ADEME and the French Development Agency (AFD) have launched a second call for projects to strengthen the existing momentum, that support the development of new innovations in view of their wider deployment scale, this time exclusively in Africa.

This call for projects (AàP) follows the one launched in 2017 by ADEME and the Ministry of Transition Ecological and Solidarity, which was part of the contribution of France to the Mission initiative Innovation launched at COP 21, of which France is a member and co-initiator.

The purpose of the AP was to bring forward projects from French companies or NGOs proposing innovations for access to energy for people not connected to energy networks and financially support their field experimentation (particularly in the field of Africa).

The submitted projects will have to implement

innovative technologies and / or organizations generating sustainable economic activities and reducing their environmental footprint over the entire life cycle. Every type of innovation (technological, social, pedagogical, financing, pricing and business, frugal, in the modes of intervention, in the follow-up / the maintenance of the installations …) is accepted.

This AAP covers two major axes of access to energy:

• Access to electricity by means of collective systems (micro and mini networks, stations energy sources) or individual systems (kits, Solar Home Systems), as well as allowing access to an energy service based on a renewable source (solar, wind power, hydraulics, biomass, etc.), in particular for productive uses that induce local economic development.
• Access to sustainable forms of heat or cold production (cooking: production and distribution of associated renewable equipment and fuels as part of a sustainable management, production of cooling from renewable sources).

Funding Information

• The envelope available to this AAP is € 1,600,000, with the objective of providing financial support to a dozen projects.
• The funding granted is in the form of a grant of up to EUR 250 000 which be considered as a contribution to the overall financing plan of the project.

Eligibility Criteria

• The projects submitted will have to implement innovative technologies and / or organizations, generating sustainable economic activities and reducing their environmental footprint throughout the entire life cycle, and this exclusively in Africa.
• Any type of innovation (technological, social, educational, financing, pricing and business plan, frugal, intervention modes, monitoring / maintenance of facilities …) is eligible.

Selection Criteria

Once eligibility has been validated, the selection of projects will be based on the following criteria:

• Innovative nature of the project
  • Examples of innovations taken into account:
    • Social innovation;
    • Technological innovation;
    • Educational innovation;
    • Innovation on financing;
    • Innovation on pricing and business plan;
    • Innovation in the modes of intervention;
    • Innovation in the monitoring / maintenance of facilities.
  • Sufficient maturity of the project:the technical options must have been validated as much as possible before being installed on the ground in Africa. They must meet criteria recognized quality. The project must indicate the level of maturity of the various innovations proposed, and any associated risks.
• Economic, financial and social model of the project
  • Quality and robustness of the economic model and the proposed business plan: the projects must submit a detailed 5-year business plan for scaling up and replication in the territory or in other countries;
  • Generalizable nature of the innovative solution developed within the framework of the submitted project and the prospect of a potential market making it possible to disseminate it;
  • Economic benefits and in particular the number of jobs in the territories (including subcontracted tasks) coming directly from the project, and indirectly (following the project beyond the contractual duration of the project);
  • Project capacity to build local capacity and promote sustainable transfer of technologies and skills;
  • Relevance of the project in relation to social and societal issues (acceptability, impacts health, safety, quality of life, insertion …);
  • Positive impact on vulnerable populations and taking into account the role of women as actresses proposed projects and solutions.
• Coordinator’s capacity to carry the project
  • Capacity of the coordinator to carry out the project, particularly operational and financial;
  • In particular, the beneficiary must submit own funds and a financing plan in coherence with the importance of the work it proposes to carry out within the framework of the project present;
  • Prospects for industrialization and subsequent deployment of the solution and access to targeted markets;
  • Adequacy of the skills of the team dedicated to the project, including the ability to implement implement an innovative project within deadlines.
• Quality of the project organization
  • Involvement of local actors (local companies, NGOs, local authorities), guarantors of ownership by beneficiary populations;
  • Relevance and complementarity of the partnership (adequacy of the number of partners to project issues, synergy and added value of all partners). The presence of a local partner within the project team is encouraged. The partnership between companies and NGOs will be a positive element in the evaluation of projects;
  • Adequacy of the work program and the budget with the objectives of the project (definition of milestones, intermediate outcomes and deliverables);
  • Relevance of the data collection system for the monitoring of the project and the evaluation of its
  • technical and socio-economic impacts.
• Environmental criteria of the project
  • Relevance of the project in relation to ecological and energy issues;
  • In particular, each project must make explicit its contribution to the ecological transition by presenting quantified effects, as far as possible, positive, neutral or negative, estimated for the following axes:
    • use of renewable energies;
    • energetic efficiency ;
    • climate (via the reduction of greenhouse gases and adaptation to climate change);
    • air quality ;
    • environmental management of water;
    • consumption of resources;
    • waste reduction;
    • impact on biodiversity.

How to Apply

Applicants can apply via given website.

For more information, please visit https://appelsaprojets.ademe.fr/aap/SolInAE2019-103