ECPA Regional Energy Competition

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The U.S. Embassy in San José, Costa Rica seeks grant / cooperative agreement proposals in amounts of no less than $100,000 up to a maximum of $250,000 from organizations interested in promoting clean energy in Central America and the Caribbean. The Embassy plans to award a total of no more than $850,000 for a project period not to exceed 18 months, pending congressional funding approval and availability of funds. Submissions in English to the request for proposals (RFP) will be reviewed by a committee that will select between four and no more than six projects. Awarded grants / cooperative agreements will receive financial disbursements in amounts approved by the Grants Officer (GO) upon demonstration of satisfactory progress. There is no obligation or reasonable expectation of additional funding from the U.S. Government (USG) upon completion of the project period. The Embassy reserves the right not to award any funds based on the quality of the proposals received.Competitive proposals will lay out a plan for taking a best practice or new technology in the field of clean energy and / or energy efficiency to the next phase of deployment. Under public and private research programs and alliances such as the Energy Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA), various clean energy demonstration projects are being undertaken in this region. A strong submission to this RFP will take the “demonstration project” concept to the next level by leveraging a strong public or private sector partnership, using a commercially viable new technology, and by engaging multi-country networks. Preference will be given to organizations that can demonstrate a strong programmatic foundation and a history of success, which will more quickly allow for implementation and scale. Proposals should be designed to demonstrate concrete deliverables upon completion that are within the scope of the proposed budget. From a project management perspective, a competitive proposal will include an effective monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework.If possible, the committee will select at least one project from each of two dimensions outlined in section IV of this request for proposals; a) mobilizing the private sector, and b) technical aspects of clean energy and clean technology deployment. Technical aspects proposals should specifically address at least one of the four themes described in the section, “Proposal Themes.” If possible, the committee will select at least one proposal with a geographic focus in Central America and one in the Caribbean. Ultimately projects will be selected based on merit, rather than dimension or geographic requirements.

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