Energy Catalyst Round 6: Transforming Energy Access

Key Features

Organisations can apply for a share of up to £10 million to address the need for clean, affordable and secure energy in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Programme:     Innovate UK

Award:     Share of up to £10 million

Opens: 20th Aug 2018

Closes: 14th Nov 2018

! This scheme is now closed

Overview

The Department for International Development (DFID) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) will invest up to £10 million in innovation projects. These must encourage technology that will help countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia access secure, low cost and low carbon energy.

Scope

The Energy Catalyst is open to any energy technology from any sector. However, to be in scope for round 6 your project must successfully consider the following 3 areas:

Your proposal must tackle all 3 areas of the energy ‘trilemma’ which are:

  • clean
  • affordable
  • security of supply and energy access

Your project could focus on, for example:

  • demonstrating that a technology works in Sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia
  • making new solutions more affordable
  • integrating technologies in new systems or business models to help unlock finance and deployment
  • developing technologies or business models that address other barriers to deployment, such as skills required to develop or maintain technologies
  • unlocking underserved market segments that existing solutions are not reaching at scale, such as rural areas, frontier markets or specific energy end-users
  • bio-energy

Your project must address the needs of one or more of the following countries:

  • East Africa: Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda
  • West Africa: Ghana, Nigeria
  • Southern Africa: Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia

Projects must be transformative with potential to scale.

Your project must align with the TEA programme’s priorities.

Eligibility

To be eligible for funding for any strand you must:

  • be a business, academic organisation, charity, public sector organisation or research and technology organisation (RTO)
  • apply as part of a collaboration with a UK organisation if you are based in Sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia
  • intend to exploit the results to help deliver clean energy access in Sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia
  • involve at least one micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)

Organisations can apply from anywhere in the world.

Projects must start by 1 April 2019 and end by 30 Sept 2021.

Funding Costs

  • Early stage projects can have total costs of £50,000 to £300,000 and last 6 to 12 months.
  • Mid stage: £50,000 to £1.5 million, 12 to 24 months.
  • Late stage: £50,000 to £3 million, 12 to 30 months.

For feasibility studies and industrial research projects, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of:

  • up to 70% if you are a small business
  • up to 60% if you are a medium-sized business
  • up to 50% if you are a large business

For experimental development projects which are nearer to market, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of:

  • up to 45% if you are a small business
  • up to 35% if you are a medium-sized business
  • up to 25% if you are a large business

Exclusions

Projects that address the following will not be funded:

  • innovations unlikely to contribute significantly to energy affordability, security and reduced carbon emissions
  • innovations that do not improve energy access in either Sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia
  • projects that do not address all areas of the energy ‘trilemma’: cost, emissions and security of supply
  • projects that do not take into account and plan to manage gender equality and social inclusion issues.
  • bio-energy projects that only install or deploy large numbers of duplicate units or build large kilowatts of plant capacity