News on international renewable energy funding programmes

GET FiT Zambia – First tender round planned for early 2018

After 2 tender rounds for PV installations were already conducted in Zambia under the World Bank's Scaling Solar Programme, this year will witness the first tender round within the framework of the GET FiT Programme. The programme is supported by Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KFW). An overall volume of 100 MW will be available for bidding as part of a two-stage auction procedure; the size of individual projects will be capped at 20 MW. Stage 1 of the procedure, “Request for Qualification”, is scheduled for the first quarter of 2018.

Basically, bidders are free to choose projects to be submitted for tender but the proposed projects must feed into the ZESCO grid. The distance between project site and the interconnection point may be not more than 10 km; in addition, limitations may apply to sites depending on the results of a conducted grid impact assessment. Detailed information on this has been published at https://www.getfit-zambia.org.

More tenders for hydro power, biomass and geothermal energy will follow.

Heating networks 4.0 – Investment grants for development and expansion of heating networks in Germany

Under the German National Action Plan on Energy Efficiency the Federal Government has set itself the objective of reducing the share of fossil fuels in the primary energy demand of existing buildings by 80% by 2050. Moreover, the share of renewable energies in the final consumption of heating and cooling should be upped to 14% over the next three years. The fourth-generation heating networks should guarantee highly efficient and environment-friendly supply of heating and cooling and, nevertheless, it should be possible to operate them in an economically viable way at competitive heating prices holding the ground against energy production from conventional sources.

The funding consists of two modules:

Module I offers co-funding for the analysis of the implementability and profitability of a concept based on a feasibility study. The level of funding is up to 60% of the costs or maximally EUR 600,000.

Module II offers grants for the implementation of a heating network 4.0 where a new heating network is installed or an existing one transformed. The grant may amount to up to 50% of the costs eligible for aid or maximally EUR 15 million.

Several conditions must be fulfilled for a heating network to be recognised and funded as a system 4.0:

The share of renewable energy and waste heat in the annual volume of heat fed into the grid must be at least 50%.
Heating prices must be at the same level as prices for heat from conventional networks or lower.
At least 100 consumers must be connected to the grid or consumption must reach at least 3 GWh p.a. (exceptional regulations are possible for smaller-scale networks).
The heating/cooling network must have a low temperature level and a supply temperature of between 20 and 95 °C.
Seasonal thermal energy storage systems must be used as long as no reasons for the inefficiency of such storage can be presented.
Electricity consumers/producers connected to such systems/network must ensure operation that is favourable to the grid and the integration into a smart grid system.

Municipalities, companies, municipal enterprises and special purpose associations, registered associations and registered cooperatives are entitled to apply for funding. The application including the required documentary evidence should be filed prior to implementing a measure; the application form can be downloaded from the website of the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA).