ARE Member EDP renews fund to support clean energy projects in developing countries
26 November 2020 – ARE Member EDP is preparing to sponsor new clean energy access projects in five African countries through the A2E Fund. The third edition of this financing program has €500,000 and two new target locations.
The focus on projects promoting access to renewable energy in developing countries is one of the commitments that prompted EDP to roll out yet another edition of the A2E (Access to Energy) Fund. With a budget of half a million euros, this financing program was created to sponsor clean energy projects in Mozambique, Nigeria, Malawi, and, for the first time, Angola and Rwanda.
In this third edition – aimed at both for-profit and non-profit organizations – the Fund will give each project €25,000 to €100,000. Applications open this Thursday, November 26, and run until January 10. The results will be announced in April 2021. Applicants will then have one year to implement their projects.
As in previous editions, the program’s five priority areas are education, health, agriculture, business, and community. Evaluation criteria include social impact, partnerships, sustainability, scalability, and financial viability.
With this new edition of the A2E Fund, EDP reaffirms its commitment to sustainability and the fight against energy poverty, which still affects more than one billion people. Since it was launched in 2018, this financing program has received more than 260 applications and allocated about €1 million to projects that use renewable energies to bolster the social, economic and environmental development of communities in remote areas. It is estimated that the projects sponsored by this EDP program over the past three years – which are available here – have directly benefited the lives of over 55,000 people – and, indirectly, of more than one million people.
The choice of regions covered by this EDP fund is also related to the company’s A2E strategy, which prioritizes investment in sub-Saharan Africa. Companies whose sustainability projects have received funding from EDP in recent years include SolarWorks!, which sells decentralized solar energy solutions in Mozambique and Malawi, and Rensource, which develops and manages mini solar energy grids in Nigeria. Such investments are in line with EDP’s long-standing commitment to supporting renewable energy projects and sustainability solutions that ensure everyone’s access to energy.
- The regulations and more information about the third edition of the A2E Fund are available here.