IRENA/ADFD Offer Funding for Govt-Backed Renewable Projects

The IRENA and Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) collaborating on a joint Project Facility is inviting the renewable energy project proposals from developing countries for its next cycle to provide concessional loans. The collaborative facility supports replicable, scalable and transformative renewable energy projects in developing countries.

Established in 2013, this seven-cycle facility offers US$350 million in concessional loans from ADFD to help developing countries access low-cost capital for renewable energy projects.

The ADFD provides $50 Million per annual cycle in over seven years. Each project gets $5-15 million, and upto 50% of the project costs are covered with the remainder is Co-financed. The ADFD provides 20-year loan period with 5 year grace period at 1% or 2% loan rates depending on the eligible country list. That would typically mean that a project in the vicinity of upto 30 MW possibly could be on their sights here.

According IRENA, since January 2014, ADFD loans worth $214 million have been allocated to 21 renewable energy projects. IRENA/ADFD backing has helped to leverage over $420 million from other funding sources for remaining project costs. Around 120 MW of renewable capacity is set to come online. Over 3.5 million people will benefit from increased access to energy and improved livelihoods.

The projects must fulfill following criterion:

COUNTRY LEVEL CRITERIA
*Projects must be submitted by Members of IRENA, Signatories of the Statute, or States in Accession, which are developing countries on the OECD “DAC List of ODA Recipients”.
*Projects must have the support and prioritisation of the host government and be able to obtain a sovereign government guarantee.
TECHNOLOGY
*Projects deploy renewable energy as defined in the Statute of IRENA, including bioenergy, geothermal energy, hydropower, ocean energy, solar energy, and wind energy.
PROJECT STAGE
*Projects must be at feasibility study and pre-implementation stage i.e. prior to tendering and procurement execution.

The applications/project summaries are invited between mid-November and mid-February of each annual cycle and evaluated by an independent, international Panel of Experts that shortlist projects based on technical feasibility, economic/financial viability and socio-economic and environmental impacts. IRENA makes the recommendation list and ADFD makes the final selection of projects from IRENA’s recommended list by December of each year. After this, ADFD signs bi-lateral agreements with government officials for the selected projects.