14 January 2013 - The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) will fund 28 new projects that aim to scale up renewable energy and energy efficient solutions in key emerging markets and in selected developing countries in Africa and Asia.

The 28 initiatives were selected from 98 final proposals in five thematic areas; scaling up successful business models, supporting off-grid generation, harnessing the benefits of clean energy in both food production and in reliable water supply, and opening up energy data in emerging markets.

“The nexus between clean energy, food production and water provision is one of the exciting new areas we are looking at,” Eva Oberender, REEEP’s programme director, says. “This includes developing solar-powered cold-storage for fishing communities in Indonesia, solar-powered pumps for irrigation in Kenya and Burkina Faso, and improvements in energy efficiency in Chinese agriculture.”

Several of the 28 selected projects replicate or scale up successful initiatives previously funded by REEEP.  The Private Financing Advisory Network is a coaching and investor matchmaking service for SMEs that REEEP has funded in southern Africa, and a new project will widen the model’s scope in India.  

One focus for this latest project call was improving the data situation for clean energy. “Making publically owned energy data accessible can mean a huge boost for clean energy businesses,” notes Martin Hiller, director-general of REEEP. “One of the new projects will open up energy access data in Ghana through a database populated with all relevant energy statistics. This will become a leading example of open data on the African continent.”

This funding cycle of  €3.95 million is REEEP’s ninth, and is made possible by donations from the governments of the United Kingdom, Norway and Switzerland.  REEEP previously disbursed €3.2 million in 2011, €4.7 million in 2009, €3.2 million in 2007, €2.2 million in 2006 and €1.1 million in 2005.