Applications Invited for the South Asia Regional Energy Partnership (SAREP) Partnership Fund Grant

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About the Organization

USAID leads international development and humanitarian efforts to save lives, reduce poverty, strengthen democratic governance and help people progress beyond assistance.

President John. F. Kennedy created the United States Agency for International Development by executive order in 1961 to lead the US government’s international development and humanitarian efforts.

About the Grant

The South Asia Regional Energy Partnership (SAREP) is the flagship regional energy program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) mission to India (USAID/I). This five- year initiative (2021-26) will improve access to affordable, secure, reliable, and sustainable energy in six countries—Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka— in line with these countries’ climate and clean energy priorities. The program is a key activity under the U.S. Government’s Clean Edge Asia -Enhancing Development and Growth through Energy initiative and aligns with USAID’s climate change priorities to advance equitable and ambitious actions to confront the climate crisis. The program helps the United States Government’s Indo-Pacific Vision and facilitates collaboration among the six countries in South Asia to accelerate the transition to clean energy, mitigate climate change, and promote energy security.

SAREP seeks to encourage targeted action and drive systems change by engaging policymakers, regulators, utilities, private sector, investors, and think tanks among others, through four key technical objectives and three cross-cutting themes:

Objective 1: Enhanced regional energy markets and integration. SAREP will facilitate development of regional power markets, improve coordination and planning, strengthen national and regional institutions, drive consensus on power trade, and institutionalize a supporting framework and mechanisms. The expected outcome is increased cross-border electricity trade in the region by transitioning to tri- and multilateral power trade and a regionally integrated grid that will lead to an energy-secure South Asia.

Objective 2: Increased deployment of advanced energy solutions and systems. SAREP will enhance and accelerate deployment of clean energy technologies for transition to net zero emissions by helping partner countries reach near-term climate goals and avoid locking in longerterm emissions trajectories. These technologies include renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy storage, off-grid, behind-the-meter technologies and smart appliances, electric vehicles, green hydrogen, and solutions and tools to support renewable energy integration including market products among others.

Objective 3: High-performing modern utilities. SAREP will enable modernization of transmission, system operation and distribution utilities in the region to improve their technical, financial, and operational performance, grid resilience, enhance customer service, and promote adaptability to new technical advancements. The expected outcome is modern, financially viable utilities that enable clean energy transition and efficient energy markets.

Objective 4: Transparent, best-value procurement and private sector investment mobilized. SAREP will facilitate increased private sector investments and enhance domestic and international finance for clean energy deployment. SAREP will also enable improved procurement processes and governance, adoption of best-value procurement practices, promote PPP models, and improve bankability of clean energy projects.

SAREP’s activities and outcomes also support and contribute to the Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP) and the Climate Action and Finance Mobilization Dialogue (CAFMD) under the recently established U.S.-India Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership. Through this collaboration, India and the U.S. aim to demonstrate swift climate action that is inclusive, resilient, and based on national and regional priorities. Countries in the region will also benefit from this collaboration through sharing of the learnings, best practices, lessons, and templates from previous experience which can be customized and replicated in other South Asian countries.

Private sector engagement. SAREP will enable and enhance private sector participation, leverage and mobilize resources, strengthen the enabling environment, increase awareness and understanding of solutions to enhance private sector finances, and promote replication of successful approaches.

Gender diversity and inclusion. SAREP will increase awareness and enable inclusion considerations in the energy sector, particularly mainstreaming gender in the energy sector. It will also engage and promote women leaders and entrepreneurs across the region.

Pollution mitigation. SAREP will advance clean energy deployment to reduce air pollution associated with the energy sector.

SAREP aims to achieve the following outcomes (Expected Results) over the duration of the Program.

These outcomes will be achieved through a combination of activities delivered through:

• SAREP Task Order being implemented by RTI International and its consortium members and subcontractors.
• SAREP Partnership Fund i.e., grants administered by RTI International, as part of the SAREP Task Order.

Purpose:

The SAREP Partnership Fund (SPF) will support market-based transformative solutions to enable the clean energy transition, particularly by engaging the private sector, local organizations, and new and underutilized partners. It will also harness innovative business models, solutions, technologies, resources, experiences, and networks of relationships that exist across stakeholders. SPF will achieve this by catalyzing country and regional activities to complement the technical assistance provided by SAREP. SPF aims to expand and maximize the impact of USAID resources in an innovative and sustainable manner through the SPF activities designed, owned, and implemented by grantees under the SAREP Program.

This Annual Program Statement (APS) APS-SAREP-FY24-001 is the FOURTH round of calls for applications planned under the SPF. This APS focuses on activities specific to all six SAREP countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Through this APS, SPF is inviting applications to fund qualified organizations for supporting activities and programs consistent with the SAREP’s purpose of improving access to affordable, secure, reliable, and sustainable energy, and its four objectives. All proposals must address one or more of SAREP’s four objectives:

• Objective 1: Enhanced regional energy markets and integration.
• Objective 2: Increased deployment of advanced energy solutions and systems.
• Objective 3: High-performing modern utilities.
• Objective 4: Transparent, best-value procurement and private sector investment mobilized.

Applicants should submit proposals that enable and deliver strong and long-lasting development results.

To achieve the results outlined under the four technical objectives, the SAREP Partnership Fund will support the types of activities illustrated below:

• Pilot demonstrations
• Incubation support
• Feasibility studies, detailed project reports, and market assessments
• Knowledge management and dissemination
• Policy advocacy and consensus building
• Knowledge sharing, exchange, and institutional capacity development
• Developing business models and innovative solutions, and structuring of innovative financial transactions to enable clean energy transition
• Design and deploy new decision-making tools

Other eligible activities, or a combination of the above activities with or without other eligible activities, can also be proposed, provided they support achievement of above-mentioned outcomes and are consistent with the four technical objectives. Activities that are ineligible for funding are listed in Section 4 below.

Issuance of this APS neither constitutes an award nor a commitment on the part of RTI or USAID to pay for costs or defray expenses incurred in the submission of the application. In addition, this APS is not intended to replace any current or future funding agreements that the organizations may have with any government department/multilateral or bilateral agencies.

The awards will be based on a competitive ranking of applications (described below) and subsequent discussions which will include negotiation with RTI.

Grant Size:

In accordance with ADS 302, the total value of any individual grant to a U.S. organization, if any, must not exceed the Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT), which is $250,000. The applicable ceiling for grant awards to non-U.S. organizations is $500,000.

Type of Grant Awards : The following type of grants may be awarded by SAREP:

• Fixed amount awards (FAAs)
• Simplified Cost-reimbursement Grant (SIG)
• Standard cost-reimbursement grants (STGs)
• In-Kind Grants

Eligibility

The SAREP Partnership Fund grants can be provided to private sector / for-profit entities; notfor-profit organizations; nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); civil society organizations; business service organizations; industry, trade, or other private sector associations; educational/training or academic institutions; and think tank/research entities which are eligible to receive foreign funded grants in accordance with applicable local regulations. Government and or quasi-government (parastatal entities) are not eligible to apply for and receive grants funded under this APS. All applicants will be bound by various USAID regulations as relevant and set forth in the US Code of Federal Regulations and Automated Directive System. Grantees should be registered in any of the countries not expressly prohibited in ADS 310 and should be legally authorized to operate in the country/ies where performance of grant activities are proposed.

How to Apply

Round 5 - call for full applications.

Applications received until October 31, 2024, 23:59 hours IST will be evaluated in Round 5.

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