Deadline: 15-May-23

Are you a Start-up or Public Power Utility, looking to scale up your digital innovation or transformation project in the energy sector in Africa? Then apply for the Digital Energy Challenge.

The objective of the Challenge is to support the development of innovative solutions for energy access, the integration of renewable energy and public utility performance improvement.

The 2023 Call for Projects, co- financed by the European Union and the French Agency for Ecological Transition, (ADEME), will focus on Africa due to the high needs on the continent.

The digital revolution is key to increase energy access, integrate renewable energy sources into the grid, decarbonize power systems and improve the performance of power utilities, especially in Africa. Public utilities, start-ups and technology providers can boost digitalization of electrical systems through innovation and demonstration of new technologies from the smart grid sector.

To support the digitalization of electrical power systems, the Digital Energy Facility, a European Union financed programme managed by Agence française de développement (AFD), launched the Digital Energy Challenge in 2021 with an annual Call for Projects.

One of the aims of the Digital Energy Facility programme is to gather private and public players in the energy and innovation sectors to facilitate partnerships to address these topics. The creation of an online Digital Energy community in 2023 and the Digital Energy Challenge will support such synergies.

Themes

For the two categories, Start-ups and Utilities, the project scope must address one of three themes:

• Universal Electricity Access and Mini-Grids
  • Energy management systems for the optimal use of clean and renewable energy.
  • Software and hardware technologies for an efficient integration of productive use assets.
  • Storage systems and algorithms minimizing the use of fossil fuel generators.
  • Tools to facilitate interconnections with the main grid and with other mini-grids.
  • Systems and algorithms for building-up nanogrids.
  • Geospatial data analytics for power demand evaluation and/or credit risk assessment.
• Efficient Grid Management
  • Information availability and communication systems.
  • Streamlining Business-As-Usual grid operational management practices of the power system.
  • Increased power availability and service quality.
• Resilience and Decarbonation of Power Systems
  • Additional renewable capacity.
  • Grid stability and flexibility.
  • Energy savings at the end-user level (Commercial & Industrial as well as households).

Benefits

• An annual budget of € 1.8M will enable the 2023 awardees to benefit from financial and technical support.
  • The financial contribution can be a maximum of € 150K for a start-up and € 500K for a public utility. This contribution includes grant-based funding and technical assistance to support project management.
  • All winners are invited to participate in a bootcamp with experts to support the implementation of their project.
• In addition, winners can benefit from increased visibility through widespread communication campaigns driven by AFD.
• The winning start-ups will each benefit from:
  • Project funding of up to € 150K, which includes a grant to contribute to costs for equipment, software, training and recruitment. It also includes technical assistance awarded on a case-by-case basis, such as project management support, strategic/technical expertise and accounting or reporting assistance.
  • A joint bootcamp with public utilities winners and multisectoral experts to support project implementation and foster synergies between project winners.
  • Communication campaigns driven by AFD during the selection, award and release of funds periods.
• The winning utility and technology/service provider partnerships will benefit from:
  • Project funding of up to € 500K in the form of a grant to support costs for equipment, software, products or services provided by the technology supplier and training ; and technical assistance for project management support, strategic and technical expertise.
  • A joint bootcamp with start-up winners and multisectoral experts to support project implementation and foster synergies between project winners.
  • Communication campaigns driven by AFD during the selection, award and release of funds periods.

Projects

All projects must be:

• Digital i.e. have telecom, computer or cloud-based technology as a central element of the project;
• Innovative either intrinsically or in relation to the local market/country;
• Local with management activities in the African country where the project is based.

Eligibility Criteria

• For Start-Ups
  • The start-up must:
    • Be less than 10 years old.
    • Be in the pre-seed/early-stage financing phase i.e less than € 1M raised.
    • Have an annual turnover of less than € 1M. Employ between 1 and 99 people full-time.
• For Utilities
  • The project owner must be an African public power utility or organisation (includes public Independent System Operators, private companies under a public service concession, power pools, regional organisations, energy regulators and rural electrification authorities).
  • The innovative technology or service provider must be a national or international registered company, less than 15 years old, with more than 5 full-time employees and a turnover of less than € 50M. In addition, the company must have developed an innovative solution to be tested within the Challenge and be in a business relationship with an African utility, supported by a signed (or near date for signature) memorandum of understanding.

For more information, visit AFD.