The specific session “Renewable Energies 2018” opened on the 9th of May 2018. Project submissions will extend until the 16th of July 2018, on: Submit a project to the Renewable Energies 2018 session. At the end of the study of the application files by a jury of experts, the various projects (a dozen) will each be allocated between €2,000 and €15,000. Only associations under French law can respond to this call for projects, but their African partners can encourage them. They must have been in existence for at least two years and have financial resources of at least €250,000 per year. The awards will be presented at the end of September 2018 at the annual charity dinner organised by Synergie Solaire. The gala also aims to bring together stakeholders in the French renewable energy sector and NGOs that are conducting electrification projects in developing countries.
Eligible projects
The call for projects “Renewable Energies 2018” has as objective to encourage the development of green energy in developing countries, particularly in Africa. It’s all about micro-projects in areas such as biofuels, solar panel installations on the roof of a school, a hospital or in the bush. Last year, 12 French associations out of 64 had their projects selected within the framework of this initiative. Among the 12 winning projects in 2017, 10 are carried out in 8 African countries (three projects in Senegal, two in Mauritania, one in countries such as Benin, Burkina Faso, DRC, Burundi and Madagascar).
The “Renewable Energies 2018” call for projects
This call was launched for the first time in October 2015, by the AMP (a national resource centre for support and financing of small French international solidarity associations, Editor’s note) in collaboration with the organising committee of COP21 in Paris. After the 2016 edition with a French renewable energy union called Syndicat des Energies Renouvelables (SER), it is with the NGO Synergie solaire (a French endowment fund created in 2010 with the aim of developing renewable energy access solutions for poor populations throughout the world, editor’s note) that the renewable energy specific call for projects has been organised since 2017.
Boris Ngounou