Support to innovative energy and agricultural technology businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia via the Shell Foundation Catalysing Agriculture by Scaling Energy Ecosystems (CASEE) project, strengthening energy, agriculture, and food systems, and boosting the productivity, income, and resilience of smallholder farmers. This project is funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
The Pioneer Energy Investing Initiative: Powering Livelihoods Using Solar (known as PEII+) is a multi-million dollar, 5-year initiative led by Acumen and supported by the Transforming Energy Access (TEA) platform. PEII+ invests early-stage capital in enterprises that provide renewable energy-powered productive use of energy (PUE) solutions. PEII+ also provides post-investment support in the form of impact measurement and technical assistance (TA) grants. Local entrepreneur accelerators also supports locally-led enterprises in India and East Africa, as well as insight and thought leadership, drawing key lessons for deploying new investment vehicles.
The Efficiency for Access R&D fund invests in R&D projects with the aim of accelerating the availability, affordability, efficiency and performance of a range of low energy inclusive appliances that are particularly suited to developing country contexts and promote social inclusion. This project is supported by the Low Energy Inclusive Appliances (LEIA) programme.
The Global Distributors Collective (GDC) is a collective of over 200 last mile distribution companies, hosted by Practical Action and supported by the Transforming Energy Access (TEA) platform. During its current phase, GDC is testing new approaches to further enable energy access at the last mile through the following actions:
– Identifying and accelerating innovation within the last mile distributor ecosystem
– Embedding best practices within last mile distributors
– Undertaking market intelligence and research
– All underpinned by essential member engagement activities.
Crowd Power seeks to grow the debt and equity energy access crowdfunding sector to become commercially sustainable and enable early and growth stage businesses to access crowdfunding. Crowd Power does this through: platform support (campaigns, de-risking and investor outreach); partnerships with lead fund investors (e.g. Charm Impact); oversight of the Energise Africa platform; and research and dissemination of learnings. Crowd Power is led by Mercy Corps Energy 4 Impact (E4I) and supported by the Transforming Energy Access (TEA) platform.
An evolution of Lighting Global Quality Assurance, VeraSol strives to make safe, affordable, and durable products the default option in the market. VeraSol builds upon the strong foundation for quality assurance laid by the World Bank Group and expands the quality assurance framework to encompass appliances and productive use equipment. This project is supported by the Low Energy Inclusive Appliances (LEIA) programme.
The Global LEAP Awards is an international competition that identifies and promotes the world’s best, most energy-efficient appliances and equipment intended for use in energy-constrained settings. The Global LEAP Awards have evolved into a trusted global brand that serves as the de facto source of accurate, actionable information about the quality and energy performance of appliances designed for use with off-grid solar energy systems, mini-grid and areas with inconsistent grid connection. Since 2014, Global LEAP Awards has run several competitions and challenges for high-impact and emerging technologies, most recently for walk-in cold storage units, solar water pumps and electric pressure cookers. This project is supported by the Low Energy Inclusive Appliances (LEIA) programme.
The Growing Government Engagement in Energy Access (GGE-EA) project, part of the Transforming Energy Access (TEA) platform, aims to accelerate the deployment of mini-grids in Africa, increasing the use of affordable decentralised clean energy options for poor households and enterprises. GGE-EA delivers peer-to-peer learning opportunities to build the capacity of rural electrification officials, improve understanding of challenges and opportunities for mini-grid deployment, and support the development of new bankable mini-grid projects. GGE-EA is coordinated by the African Association for Rural Electrification (CLUB-ER), in partnership with SouthSouthNorth.
Project researching and developing innovative mobile-based technologies for developing countries, including in the clean energy sector. This programme is funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
The Transforming Energy Access Learning Partnership (TEA-LP) is a partnership of universities committed to delivering professional graduates ready to drive the transition to sustainable energy access for all. TEA-LP provides courses for local current and future professionals in the energy access sector and aims to build on its network of 30 higher education institutions in 18 countries across Africa and the Indo-Pacific and make linkages to other energy access organisations and the private sector. It is also provides continuous professional development (CPD) courses (including a dedicated ‘Future Female Leaders in Energy’ course). TEA-LP also seeks to strengthen ‘South-South’ academic networks for energy access. This initiative is delivered under the Transforming Energy Access (TEA) platform by the University of Cape Town.