The initiative, which is UK’s Energy Catalyst programme, was designed to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all and is one of the UK’s biggest energy access focused grant funding initiatives.
At an Energy Catalyst meeting in Abuja, the Knowledge Transfer Manager for the Innovate UK Nigeria, Mr Joshua Adedeji, said the objective of the programme was to look out for innovations that could end energy poverty in benefitting countries. He said, “One thing we do with this programme is to ensure that organisations are able to bring in their ideas, their solutions and utilize the fund that is available. It is a 10 million pounds fund that people can apply for. The fund is open till June this year.”
Adedeji said the mission of the energy catalysts was to accelerate the intervention needed to meet SDG 7 by providing financial and advisory support to innovators. According to him, to qualify for the grants, innovators must look for partners from the UK and present their proposals, stressing that the project must address transforming energy access and clean energy.