Developing Countries Invited to Take Part in SREP

Fourteen developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean have been invited to participate in the Scaling Up Renewable Energy Programme in Low Income Countries (SREP), and an additional country to the Clean Technology Fund (CTF).

This expands the Climate Investment Fund’s (CIF) reach to 63 countries worldwide.

According to a post conference release from Climate Investment Fund (CIF), the decisions were taken at the meetings of the CIF Trust Fund Committees and Sub-Committees, which took place at the Montego Bay Convention Centre from June 25 to 29, following the CIF 2014 Partnership Forum.

Jamaica is already a beneficiary from the CIF’s Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (PPCR), having received $25 million to improve the national risk information platform, data collection and management systems, and raise awareness about the risks of climate change.

The 14 new SREP countries are Bangladesh, Benin, Cambodia, Ghana, Haiti, Kiribati, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Nicaragua, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zambia. They join 13 other SREP pilot countries already working to expand energy access and demonstrate the economic, social, and environmental viability of renewable energy.

Libya has also been invited to participate in the CTF’s Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regional programme.

According to the SREP Programme Coordinator, Zhihong Zhang,  the growth in the programme shows global recognition of renewable energy potential to provide solutions to energy access.

Out of the 55 countries eligible to participate in the SREP, 40 submitted proposals detailing their interest in receiving SREP financing. The SREP is proving valuable as a central platform upon which many pilot countries are consolidating discussions on national renewable energy policy, planning, and enabling environments.

Under the Clean Technology Fund (CTF), Nigeria’s revised $250 million investment plan was endorsed, ensuring better alignment with national priorities for energy efficiency and renewable energy, particularly solar photovoltaic (PV) power production.

Endorsement was also given to revisions to the $750 million investment plan of the MENA region, which brings in Libya to join Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia in developing close to 1,000 megawatts of installed concentrated solar power capacity.

Also under the CTF, the second phase of the Dedicated Private Sector Programme was endorsed for $330 million. The funding will support several innovative financing mechanisms to further engage the private sector on clean energy around the world through de-risking geothermal exploration, promoting mini-grids, and addressing investment barriers to developing solar PV, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Two concept projects from Bolivia and two from Cambodia were endorsed for a total of US$24 million under the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (PPCR) private sector set-asides. The projects aim to address climate resilience in agriculture, rain water harvesting, drip irrigation, and micro finance for smallholder farmers.

Under the Forest Investment Programme (FIP), the framework for the Dedicated Grant Mechanism for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (DGM) was endorsed, taking note of the $50 million grant funding request, with $4.72 million going to the global component of the mechanism and $6.5 million to Brazil’s DGM country programme.

The grant to Brazil will help conserve the natural resources of the Cerrado biome and facilitate the exchange of knowledge between indigenous peoples and other communities.

Also approved were a risk management framework and the CIF Gender Action Plan, which aims to improve the responsiveness of CIF programmes and projects to the different needs and interests of women and men.