Deadline: 22 January 2020

Applicants are invited to apply for the Pawarim Komuniti, which is a new Off-Grid Electrification Program funded by the PNG-Australia Partnership to support access to clean energy in rural and remote communities in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The program is part of Australia’s commitment under the PNG Electrification Partnership to help PNG meet the target of connecting 70% of the country to electricity by 2030.

The proposal must address project implementation and should be focused on increasing sustainable access to energy for households and/or business and/or community service facilities in rural areas of Papua New Guinea.

Aims

The Program aims to:

• Provide rural households, community service facilities and businesses with reliable and affordable access to clean energy.
• Support Government, development partners, civil society and private sector with information on successful off-grid electrification projects.

To increase electricity access for unserved and underserved communities the Program will support local offgrid energy solutions such as solar home systems (SHS), larger solar PV installations, micro-hydro plants and solar pumps – this may include power to meet household consumer needs, as well as the delivery of power to productive or commercial activities including agricultural production, commercial enterprises, and others.

This Call targets the delivery of clean energy off-grid solutions through innovative and sustainable business models, designed with and to fit the partner community, such as pay-as-you-go, SHS/appliance distribution, and promotion of productive use of energy.

Grant Information

Proposals are invited from eligible organisations, and approximately two to five awards are anticipated. Selected organisations will receive grant funding in the amount of between PGK 250,000 and PGK 3,000,000, depending on project scale and target results.

Eligibility Criteria

• Pawarim Komuniti will accept proposals only from legally registered national or international private companies and NGOs eligible to work in Papua New Guinea. An application, through the EOI form, must be submitted by a lead organisation; partner entities with a strategic and significant role in the project are indicated in the form and are referred to as co-applicants. Co-applicants (i.e. partners), must be a legally registered specific type of entity, such as private company, NGO, research institute, university, association, group, local government, etc. In case of partnership, either the lead applicant or at least one of the co-applicants needs to be legally registered in Papua New Guinea.
• A partnership submitting an application will be structured as follow:
  • Lead applicant (max. 1), i.e. the organisation submitting the EOI form;
  • Co-applicants (max. 3), participate in designing and/or implementing the project.
• The lead applicant will be the sole organisation responsible for managing the grant received.
• Applicants may have developed their own set of technologies or adopted technologies that are accepted globally.
• Applicants must ensure and demonstrate that proposed off-grid products meet global quality standards, as well as demonstrating the offered service levels are relevant to the local context.

Eligible Technologies

This first Call for proposals will primarily focus on the following technologies, although others might be considered if complying with eligibility criteria.

• Solar home systems (SHS)
  • “Plug and play” kits serving a single customer’s household or small business needs.
  • Focus must be on distribution systems which are scalable and can be replicated, in addition to being affordable.
• Stand-alone power systems
  • An off-grid power system serving a single customer and a single facility, or complex of adjacent facilities.
• Productive use:
  • Off-grid energy solutions for processes such as water pumping and refrigeration, or other (agriculture) business applications. Target businesses need to prove commercial viability and social impact.

Solar and hydro are preferable sources of energy for the above applications.

For more information, visit http://pawarimkomuniti.org.pg/