Contracts for Innovation: Clean Energy Demonstrators in Tanzania

Overview

This is a Contracts for Innovation competition funded by the British High Commission in Tanzania. This funding is part of the Ayrton Fund. The activities supported by the project must be complete by 31 March 2026.

Scope

The aim of this competition is to develop innovative clean energy demonstrators in Tanzania.

This is to contribute to:

an inclusive and clean energy transition
extend the benefits of clean energy to all
meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 7 and 13

These goals are:

Sustainable Development Goal 7:

Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

Sustainable Development Goal 13:

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

A key aspect of this competition is to leverage local partnerships with organisations in Tanzania.

Your project must:

leverage local partnerships with organisations in Tanzania
contribute to Sustainable Development Goals 7 and 13
involve demonstrating or field testing of your innovation in Tanzania for a minimum of three continuous months, with in-country users in real life operating conditions
contribute to the reduction or mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions
ensure Tanzania is the primary beneficiary of the innovation
be compliant with ODA funding
demonstrate impact to either local communities or local organisations
propose an end of life plan for the technology developed with this funding

Your project must also utilise existing local supply chains if available, and where reasonable. For example, if there is a local supplier of a particular component, and it’s at a reasonable price, we would expect them to be the supplier used for the project. If the cost is significantly lower, the use of the supplier would need to be justified for the cost and shipping of parts from other countries.

You must demonstrate a credible and practical route to market, so your application must include a plan to commercialise your results.

Contracts will be given to successful applicants.

Specific Themes

Your project must focus on at least one of the following Ayrton Challenge Areas:

next generation solar: enable new, sustainable, locally manufacturable solar PV supplies, reducing the emissions and transport costs of solar expansion
smart energy systems: accelerate a series of related technologies which enable more efficient and effective network delivery of energy
energy storage: create and commercialise innovative battery technologies and associated business models for generator displacement and mobility applications in developing countries and emerging economies
clean hydrogen: scaling zero carbon thermal gas production and uses, reducing remaining need for fossil fuels in hard to abate sectors
modern cooking services: unlocking the transition from biomass to genuinely clean cooking, delivering major health and environmental benefits
inclusive energy and leave no one behind: ensure that the benefits of the clean energy revolution reach the poorest and most marginalised, for example, women, people with disabilities, refugees or Internally Displaced People (IDPs), healthcare patients in unelectrified clinics
sustainable cooling for all: helps to meet growing global cooling demand in a warming world, in a sustainable way
zero emissions generators: replace fossil fuelled generators in an increasing number of use-cases with Zero Emissions alternatives

Research Categories

Demonstration, development and field testing

This can include demonstrating, piloting, testing and validation of new or improved products, processes or services in environments representative of real-life operating conditions. The primary objective is to make further technical improvements on products, processes or services that are not substantially set.

Eligibility

Projects must:

start on 1 April 2025
end by 31 March 2026
last between 6 months and 12 months
have costs of between £200,000 and £800,000, inclusive of VAT
involve demonstrating or field testing of your innovation in Tanzania for a minimum of three months duration, with in-country users in real life operating conditions
demonstrate local partnerships, for example, with subcontractors who are based in Tanzania
ensure Tanzania is the primary beneficiary of the innovation
be compliant with ODA funding

Projects must always start on the first of the month, in this case 1 April 2025. You must not start your project until your contract has been approved by Innovate UK.

Applicant

To lead a project you must:

be an organisation of any size
work alone or with the subcontracted skills and expertise of others from business, research organisations, research and technology organisations, or the third sector (charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups)
carry out the demonstration or field testing in Tanzania for a minimum of three months duration

Contracts will be awarded to a single legal entity only. The majority of the project work and key deliverables must be completed by the applicant. Subcontractors can be used.

Organisations do not have to be registered in the UK to lead a project but must be a registered organisation. We will undertake viability and due diligence checks before awarding a contract.

Sanctions

This competition will not fund you, or provide any financial benefit to any individual or entities directly or indirectly involved with you, which would expose Innovate UK or any direct or indirect beneficiary of funding from Innovate UK to UK Sanctions. For example, through any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any entity as lead, partner or subcontractor related to these countries, administrations and terrorist groups.

Use of animals in research and innovation

Innovate UK expects and supports the provision and safeguarding of welfare standards for animals used in research and innovation, according to best practice and up to date guidance.

Any projects selected for funding which involve animals will be asked to provide additional information on welfare and ethical considerations, as well as compliance with any relevant legislation as part of the project start-up process. This information will be reviewed before an award is made.

Exclusions

Innovate UK will not fund projects that:

are not original in scope and duplicates someone else’s work
are covered by existing commercial agreements to deliver the proposed solutions
do not address clean energy requirements
do not have a beneficial impact in Tanzania
do not harness local partnerships in Tanzania
do not utilise local supply chains where available and reasonable
are not Official Development Assistance (ODA) compliant
do not take into account and plan to manage Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI)
are demonstrating at lab scale, for example, not in real life operating conditions

Funding Costs

A total of up to £1.8 million, inclusive of VAT, is allocated to this competition.

The total funding available for the competition can change. The funders have the right to apply a ‘portfolio’ approach. This means we aim to fund a variety of projects across different technologies, markets, technological maturities, regions and Ayrton challenge areas.

This is to ensure that the strategic criteria for the competition brief is met by successful projects considered to be above the quality threshold. This will be as a result of independent expert assessment.

The contract is completed at the end of the project and the successful organisation is expected to pursue commercialisation of their solution.

Value Added Tax (VAT)

If you are a UK organisation, you must select whether you are VAT registered before entering your eligible project costs.

VAT is the responsibility of the invoicing business. Innovate UK will not provide any further advice and suggest you seek independent advice from HMRC.

VAT registered

If you select you are VAT registered, you must enter your eligible project costs exclusive of VAT. As part of the application process VAT will be automatically calculated and added to your project cost total. Your total eligible project costs inclusive of VAT must not exceed £800,000.

Not VAT registered

If you select you are not VAT registered, you must enter your eligible project costs exclusive of VAT and no VAT will be added. You will not be able to increase total project costs to cover VAT later should you become VAT registered. Your total project costs must not exceed £800,000.

Research and development (R&D)

Your application must have at least 50% of the contract value attributed directly and exclusively to R&D services, including solution exploration and design. R&D can also include prototyping and field-testing the product or service. This lets you incorporate the results of your exploration and design and demonstrate that you can produce in quantity to acceptable quality standards.

R&D does not include:

commercial development activities such as quantity production
supply to establish commercial viability or to recover R&D costs
integration, customisation or incremental adaptations and improvements to existing products or processes

Subsidy Control

Contracts for Innovation competitions involve procurement of R&D services at a fair market value and are not subject to subsidy control criteria that typically apply to grant funding.

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