Join the New Sustainable Energy Marketplace!

A program to support project development will soon be available for eligible renewable energy projects in Latin America and the Caribbean via the new Sustainable Energy Marketplace.  If you are involved in developing, financing or maintaining sustainable energy projects in Latin America and the Caribbean, you are eligible to receive a grant from the IDB. To learn more about the grant and the Marketplace sign up for our webinar on November 25^th.

The marketplace is an innovative platform created from the ground up by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) with support from the Inter-American Development Bank. The Sustainable Energy Marketplace is a platform free of charge, for project owners, governments, financiers, and service and technology providers to help develop and drive investments to new renewable energy projects. The marketplace will have region specific platforms including African, Asian, Latin American, and Caribbean platforms. The platform will be initially built for each region separately, but later it will expand to become a global market place.

The objective of the virtual marketplace is to accelerate the scale up of investments – both public and private – to facilitate initiation, development and financing of low-carbon renewable energy projects by bringing together project owners, governments, financiers, and service and technology providers. It makes investment opportunities visible and easily identifiable for investors, and helps project developers to identify relevant funding sources and expertise.

The virtual market place will bring together project owners, governments, financiers, and service/technology providers to:

• enhance understanding of the market and capabilities of project owners;
• create a transparent and structured framework;
• increase project success rates;
• increase sustainable development and energy access.

This type of project platform has had success in other areas of business. For example, the REDFIN platform allows users to search for homes while the Lending Tree allows you to apply for a personal loan with many banks at the same time. The energy sector is not used to working with standardized information, which is why this Sustainable Energy Marketplace is important. It will provide stakeholders with public information that will allow them to evaluate project opportunities related to project finance, project development, and the provision of services and technology.

The Inter-American Development Bank is the first financial institution to pilot a limited grant funding opportunity using the Sustainable Energy Marketplace. In order to qualify for funding, projects must meet minimum eligibility criteria and be registered on the Sustainable Energy Marketplace by March 1, 2016. The projects will be evaluated by a technical team from the IDB who will select a small number.  Those selected will be eligible to receive services worth up to US$50,000 from a specialized consulting firm. This firm will provide support to grant winners to help them develop studies related to social, environmental, financial, technical, economic feasibility, due diligence, legal structuring or other related issues.

For more information on this unique opportunity, including an explanation of the minimum eligibility criteria and how the online platform works, join our webinar on November 25^th at 9:00am EST.