Catalyzing investment in Central American and Caribbean clean energy solutions

The Clean Energy Finance Facility for the Caribbean and Central America (CEFF-CCA) is an innovative financing program that aims to support private-sector clean energy development in the two focal regions. The four U.S. government partners collaborating in the Facility are the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).

The Caribbean and Central America have abundant renewable energy resources, yet suffer from electricity shortages and high prices. The goal of the two-year program is to catalyze much-needed public and private sector investment in clean energy projects by providing grant support for early-stage project development. The Facility will help promising but undercapitalized projects address key planning and feasibility issues that are critical to successful financing and implementation.

In addition to grant support, CEFF-CCA participation has the potential to open doors to additional OPIC and USTDA support, including OPIC loans and guarantees, political risk insurance, and investment fund support. USTDA offers project development support beyond grants.

Who is Eligible?

Facility funding is available to investors and project developers, and to host country public and private sector project sponsors interested in early planning support to structure bankable opportunities for implementation financing or insurance.

What Types of Projects are Eligible?

Clean and renewable energy projects in the following categories:

• Power generation: Projects involving construction and operation of renewable energy power generation facilities for connection to the national grid, local utilities, or distribution companies. Projects must use commercially proven technologies.
• Market-based solutions: Projects involving sales and distribution of small-scale clean energy systems and products that provide access, or extend the hours of access, to electricity. Examples include off-grid distributed generation systems, self-contained solar home kits, pay-as-you-go access systems, etc.
• Renewable Energy Infrastructure Catalyzers: Projects that introduce or expand essential infrastructure or provide additional resources to a specific market, which renewable energy sector actors may then leverage to expand renewable energy offerings to a target market. Examples include financing and leasing facilities.

CEFF-CCA support will also be considered for projects that promote energy efficiency, including: electricity grid loss mitigation and other smart grid activities, energy efficiency building solutions and activities that mitigate the need for new power generation.

Projects must meet the following criteria:

• Have clear social and economic benefits, with processes in place to monitor and evaluate these benefits.
• Positive impact on energy access, security, poverty alleviation, gender inclusion, and consistency with the USAID program in the country where the project is located.
• Support low emissions development in Central America and the Caribbean.

How Can CEFF-CCA Funds be Used?

• Engineering costs associated with project design, technology assessment, and overall feasibility studies.
• Legal costs for preparation of documentation related to permitting, PPAs, EPCs, O&M, and financing agreements.
• Consulting costs for the preparation of environmental and social impact studies.
• Third-party costs associated with physical and technical analysis of renewable resources.

Projects in the Following Categories are not Eligible for CEFF-CCA Support:

• Projects that involve renewable energy technologies unproven in commercial operations (e.g., wave technology).
• Captive power plants that introduce renewable energy for self-generation or for a single customer, without a broader developmental impact, unless it is in the context of broader scale introduction of distributed generation.
• Energy efficiency upgrades for an individual company’s use (although energy efficiency consulting, financing or installation services can be considered).
• “Renewable resources” projects that do not have a primary renewable energy component (e.g., sustainable agriculture, water, forestry, etc.).
• Retrofit projects in which renewable energy sources replace traditional fossil fuel sources (although brownfield projects can be considered).
• Projects participating in bid selection processes that have not been awarded the concession or MW allocation.
• Natural gas projects.
• Nuclear power projects.

In Which Countries Can CEFF-CCA Funds be Used?

USAID encourages interested parties and prospective applicants to contact the CEFF-CCA team. Please Email CEFF-CCA@usaid.gov for further information and application instructions.