The Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa (BGFA) will open a second funding round for Uganda during March 2023. This is BGFA’s fifth Call for Proposals (BGFA5) to incentivise clean off-grid energy solutions in Sub-Saharan Africa.
It is expected that up to EUR 6.2 million will remain unallocated from the first Call in Uganda (BGFA3), which was launched in April 2021, and therefore it is possible to open now a new Call. The evaluation of the final applications of the first round was completed in spring 2022 and the first contracted projects were announced in December 2022. In total, six to seven off-grid companies, i.e. energy service providers, will be contracted from the first funding round. Funds for Uganda have been contributed by Sweden and Denmark and additional funds for the upcoming Call may also be made available by Norway, who joined the BGFA programme at the end of 2022.
All interested private sector companies are invited to apply for the new Call, except those who were successful in securing financing or are in the advanced stages of negotiations under BGFA3, since they are excluded from receiving funding under the new Call for Proposals (BGFA5).
“BGFA financing will be made available under a single funding window. This means that both experienced and less experienced, locally owned and managed private companies can apply for funding. The funds can be used for either the sale of solar home systems or the establishment of mini-grid solutions in Uganda. The indicative individual contract size per project is expected to be between EUR 1.5 and EUR 4 million,” comments Tina Möller, Programme Manager at Nefco.
The new Call will use a simplified, single stage application process, in which applicants will be requested to submit a business plan while still meeting the key BGFA requirements from previous Calls.
The Call for Proposals, opening during March 2023, invites companies to apply through an online process. Further information, selection criteria and guidelines will be made available on the BGFA website beyondthegrid.africa when the new funding round opens.
Update 22 February: The launch of the Call has been moved forward and will open during March 2023.
For further information, please contact:
Tina Möller, Programme Manager at Nefco
tina.moller@nefco.int, +358 10 6180 651
Lia Oker-Blom, Senior Communications at Nefco
lia.oker-blom@nefco.int, +358 10 6180 671
Photo: Two women watching TV with an off-grid connection through a Solar Home System appliance.