IRENA opens funding call for renewable energy projects in Central America, the Caribbean

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has opened a call for proposals aimed at public and private developers in Central America and the Caribbean for projects that require financial and technical support to move towards implementation.

Initiatives will be considered by either the Climate Investment Platform (CIP) or the Energy Transition Finance Accelerator (ETAF). IRENA says it will prioritize proposals submitted before September 1.

The call covers renewable generation projects, whether connected to the grid or not, either centralized and distributed, as well as projects covering infrastructure associated with generation facilities, electric mobility, green industrialization and supply chains linked to renewable energies.

Eligible technologies include solar photovoltaic and solar thermal energy, onshore and offshore wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, bioenergy, clean transport, green hydrogen and energy production from sargassum.

The call is open to projects from Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Grenada, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.

Projects submitted to CIP must have passed the conceptual stage and include, at a minimum, preliminary or pre-feasibility studies. Additional eligibility criteria says they must also contribute to the energy transition, be aligned with national climate priorities and support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The ETAF stream is designed for medium- and large-scale projects with a higher degree of financial maturity. The platform has over $4 billion committed by its financing and risk mitigation partners.

To be eligible for ETAF, private projects or those developed through public-private partnerships must require a minimum investment of $25 million. For initiatives promoted by the public sector, the minimum required capital outlay is $10 million. These projects must have a completed feasibility study, grid connection availability where applicable, power purchase agreements and be sufficiently prepared to access financing.

Applications for both platforms can be submitted through the respective CIP and ETAF portals .