Yes. We will upload the recording of the webinar and all documentations on our website.

This depends on the eligibility criteria as mentioned in the Frameworkd document, as long as your firm (including start-ups) can fulfill the prerequisite conditions, you are welcome to apply.

We’ve classified the requests of funding as follows:
1. Transaction costs: this could be anything that is relevant to provisional advisory services, financial modelling assistance, structuring agreement support, etc.
2. Financing vehicle: this is in relations to the creation of a financing vehicle/ instrument. If your project requires funding to support the development of such instrument, you can apply for grant support as type 2 project.
3. Capacity building: this is only relevant to capacity building projects. If your firm is deemded to benefit significantly from capacity building training, which later can enable the implementation of projects within the captive RE scope and beyond, we will be happy to support and provide funding.
It should be noted that one applicant can only be granted with one type of funding.

It is possible; however, it needs to be clear on how “doable” the existing solar PV would NOT be WITHOUT the support from the CCI project. In other words, the proposed project needs to prove why the funding from CCI is “additional” (a new twist to the business model, technology development, scaling etc.)

Yes, it could be. However, the program is structured in a way that relies on project developers with the specific approach application. There is no specific mechanism to support trade finance as such. But if any EPC has a specific demand, the CCI support could be applicable. In principal, applicants are welcome to apply if there is something we can support with and share the risk of high upfront transaction costs.

From our side, we do have our idea on what an “innovative” business model would be, as we have studied the market intensively. However, we would not further disclose this to the public our understanding, as the program is structured in a way that we would receive different applications justifying their business models in terms of innovation. The questions we are asking are “Why is this business model eligible for support?” “What is the difference from what is already existing out there?” “Why would we use the grant to support your project?”.
There are numerous barriers in the market, but we do not think all the barriers would be too big to prevent the business from scaling. Quite obviously, access to finance might be considered a problem, or another big barrier is licensing of large projects (>1megawatt), etc. Thus, our approach helps overcome the upfront costs to share risks and help projects moving forwards.

Yes. We will not support for the CAPEX, equipment costs for the projects. All the details are included in the frameworks document.

With regards to COVID-19, we are aware of the impact it brings to the sector. But we do hope that the project development activities can continue to some extent. We believe that this project underlines the distributed energy at the right time. The number of proposals is however, hard to predict. We hope that the structure of the project as broadly defined can attract any developers/ companies to apply; but to put out a number on how many would be difficult.

The cap is indeed for development work/ transaction work. Any legal costs related to transaction (e.g, corporate PPA or leasing structure, EPC contract) is also considered. Whether or not any financier in place, this would not be the case here. While we would want to see that the projects are happening when we are supporting them, any commitment/ banks on how the projects should be financed is helpful, but not a requirement.

The grant of up to USD 100k will be disbursed into 2-4 tranches based on the results of agreed milestone, over a period of 18 months. This amount is a one-time availability, but will be disbursed through tranches.

As part of the CCI project, our aim is to increase the uptake of RE within the C&I sector. We plan to disburse the knowledge accumulated through the project. Except for sensitive information within the pilot projects will not be disclosed, other information that would help with increasing the uptake in the market will be fully published through our website.

C&I customers focusing on clean captive installations. As long as the criteria is fulfilled, CCI will accept the application.

Up to 300k USD per project matched with at least 25% contribution from the applicant. The total amount of projects that will be funded depends on the total amount of requests CCI will receive and the ranking of the applicants.

We encourage and welcome anyone to apply provided that they meet the eligibility criteria and given that the call applies to clean captive installations for commercial and industrial clients.

CCI accepts both. Cash is appreciated however, considering the Covid-19 Pandemic CCI is flexible.

The target group could be both customers and installers and the specific requirement for them is demonstrated in the framework document. If the eligibility criteria doesn’t support your type, please contact CCI for further assistance.

Yes. The grant is used for the project execution. It could be used in feasibility, project preparation and execution. It should be in line with the 3 types we described.

There is no standard social discount rate and it changes depending on countries and specific considerations. The proxy that has been used by utilities or public organizations in several countries is around the expected future inflation rate as the minimum rate of return, which is specifically around 2% in USD. The discount rate will be in line with the cash flows, if they are in nominal or (limited) real terms, and the currency that is being used.

The higher the social discount rate is, the lower the attractiveness and the profitability of the project will be. From the social perspective, a relatively lower social discount rate would be given to renewable energy projects rather than traditional energy projects to help a country speed up the energy transition.

All the tools could be found on the website. For the financial model, applicants can reach out via email.

The Hybrid System Controller and its uses are introduced in the BAT Tool (accessible on the website). A generic hybrid system controller depends on the system design and the equipment use. Its development is based on the overall system components selected by the installer/ company.

No. We aim to support projects that can scale solar captive PV within Kenya. If you consider only the ownership model, the scalability factor might be limited. To other C&I businesses, we are happy to support third-party financing such as PPA or leasing as well as any other business model that is scalable and replicable.

The model presented is just for guideline use/ showcase. Indeed, you are more than encouraged to use your own calculations.

The main drivers for PV captive systems would be the fact that electricity prices will continue to go up, meaning the LCOE will go down for PV in general, making the case for clean captive installation. We can also talk about there is a stronger co-systems between private financiers and developers that are enabled already in the market. As well for the regulation side, there is a window for clean captive installation below 1MW for self-consumption. For the barriers, there is a relative lack of financing through banks, and a stronger barrier on currency exchange. Another barrier is regulatory challenge: as the Energy Act 2019 is very recent, the outdated regulations in 2012 have not yet been in phase. There are a lot of uncertainties ongoing, hindering the development of clean captive installations. Further information can be found in our Kenya Country Report which is downloadable from our website.

Yes there are several reliable tools that are suitable to designing the PV solar system. For example, HOMER is a very reliable tool and widely used in the industry. Also PV*SOL is another reliable tool. There are other tools available, but HOMER and PV*SOL are among the best tools to give an overview even economical overview – you can have it all with these tools!

In this case, we will have a back-up option resorting to battery storage installation. This depends on the availability of the area for installation, it is more or less relate to your site on what can be done.

It depends of course on what kind of analysis you are performing. Let’s take the off-taker’s perspective an industrial consumers, we will calculate the LCOE of the Captive PV system: this means that per kWh, the levelized costs throughout the life-time of the system (considering all costs associated) – we are translating project that is very capiial intensive in the first years and relatively with low O&M costs to monetary terms, comparing this against electricity tariffs. As seen from the graph shown earlier in our presentation, we are able to compare the LCOE of the captive system which is estimated with high probability for 25 years against a tariff that we know that the off-taker are based on. From that we will know the feasibility of the project, that is if the LCOE is below the tariff. However, it should be noted that the electricity tariff is uncertain in the future- Also the captive users might hedge against this increase. The LCOE is a nice metric that allows you to compare; but you could also consider other viable metrics (e.g. expected future evolution of the tariff).

As of now, if the capacity is below 1MW, and the industry owns the plant, the electricity is produced for self-consumption of the industrial facility, then no licenses are required. If the capacity is above 1MW, you will need to acquire a permit. If it is above 3MW, you would need a license. The process of getting a license is a bit time-consuming, but not expensive.

We think we could estimate less than 10% per year, in comparison to initial capex (depending on the system).

The license limitation has been put for projects that are large-scale and utility-scale. For captive installation projects, they are still being issued. The reform is independent of CCI’s projects.

The total funding that is available for Ghana itself is 300k USD. Each applicant should apply for only one type of application for a maximum of 300k USD of funding requested. An applicant can apply for the entire 300k USD. Each applicant can apply to one type, either type 1, 2 or 3, not all 3 type could be covered by one applicant. If the top applicant requests for 200k USD, the second could get 100k USD. Depending on the number of applicants and their requested funding, the total number of projects to be supported will vary.

This programme is primarily targeted to enable private sector players and therefore no UN agencies or government agencies should apply.

Please visit our website where you will find all documents for download – both the country study and the slides. Also the recording of the session will be provided on the website.

Our advice to impact investors is to understand your own mission, focus on environmental and social metrics as much as financial metrics, and a case-by-case analysis is also needed to incorporate the interests of the specific investment. It is recommended to conduct interviews with the stakeholders involved and, if needed, perform on-site visits of projects.

We incorporate the content of enabling regulatory environment for private sector investment in the Ghana Country Study. Eligibility criteria regarding technical, environment and financial feasibility for projects are available in the framework document on the website. For further clarification, please reach out to us.

We also cooperate closely with local policy-makers on the acceleration of sustainable energy solutions. We support that each country has its own policy and regulatory framework to better involve and encourage the private sector.

The programme is implemented in agreement with the Ministry of Energy in Ghana. In-depth support to applicants and projects is provided through the CCI team and our offices in Germany and Kenya. Once the pandemic allows, the team will also conduct in-country missions.

Depending on the type of activity that the additional funding will support, we are able to provide funds to cover (1) transaction costs, (2) costs for creation of a financing instrument/vehicle, (3) costs to cover capacity building. Kindly refer to the framework document for further details on this.

The grant funding of USD 300,000 is available in full for pilot project(s) in Nigeria.

Please refer to the framework document for detailed explanation.

Please refer to the framework document for detailed explanation.