Application Process to Award SECF Support

SECF application has two-stage process to encourage genuine applicants to secure financial incentive for RE projects.

In the first phase,  an application for a Concept Note of a potential RE  project is requested via online portal which will allow an applicant to present the project concept providing Applicants data, Project data, targeted beneficiaries, initial technical and economic data of the project along with financial position of the applicant. The Concept notes received are shortlisted by an Initial screening committee based on the eligibility, technical feasibility, financial viability, and impact of the project.

In the second phase, all shortlisted concept notes are invited for full application via online portal which is more detailed information of the project; such as feasibility report that includes details on objectives, project implementation, future sustainability, financial Information and budgeting analysis of the project to evaluate for investment. The full application will have thorough due diligence on technical feasibility, social impact, risk assessment and financial viability of the proposed project. After the due diligence, the application will then be evaluated  by an Independent Evaluation Panel (IEP) on institutions’ capacity and financial soundness to manage the proposed project in a sustainable way to ensure that the evaluations are done  with independency and transparently. All the applications that are sound, potential for sustainability beyond SECF support and meet the objective of SECF will then be recommended to Investment committee (IC) for approval. The IC then reviews all recommended applications and approves the project that are most promising and  ensure value for money.

Appropriate steps are required to ensure adequate responses from potential institutions applying for the challenge fund. Following picture depicts the SECF application process flow:

 

Eligible Institutions

Institutions that are eligible to apply for the SECF support are as follows:

1.  Special Purpose Vehicle established with Local/Provincial Governments to implement DRE PPP projects
2.  Renewable Energy companies
3.  Banks and Financial Institutions including Cooperatives
4. Industries or commercial entities registered under company act
5. Any other companies not included above but have mandate to work in RE sector and have experiences in working in RE sector for at least two years

Governance Structure of SECF

Appropriate Governance structure is very important to manage a Challenge Fund. While adopting SECF process, a proper and transparent screening process in each of the SECF governance level will be followed so that adequate transparency and accountability can be ensured at each level.
The Initial screening committee is responsible to evaluate and shortlist all the concept note under four major key areas will be consider for shortlisting

All concept notes must get a minimum of 60 marks to be eligible for shortlisting for full application. Once the concept note is shortlisted, the concerned applicant institution will be informed and encouraged to apply full application within a month.

All complete full applications received online will go to Due Diligence (DD) which will be conducted by SECF Secretariate. Only full applications with successful DD will be evaluated by the Independent Evaluation Panel (IEP). The main objective of IEP is to appraise the proposals in terms of technical and financial appropriateness of the proposed costs and viability gap, as well as the applicant’s institutional capacity and financial soundness to manage the proposed project in a sustainable way.

The IEP is an independent group of experts selected through a public call. The panel will be selected from the fields relevant to the fund (i.e. BFI experts, technology providers, RE technology experts, consultants, etc.). The roster of all approved panel experts’ will be maintained at the Secretariat. For each panel meeting, the Fund Manager in close consultation with IC chair and ED of AEPC will select at least 3 experts as IEP for a particular lot of the proposals received based on the nature of the proposal and proposed technology.

The IEP will use predefined criteria to evaluate the project proposals by awarding appropriate scores. While evaluating the Full application following six major key areas will be consider for evaluating

S.N.	Evaluation Criteria	Allocated Max Score	Remarks
1	Contribution toward the objective of the project to NREP objective to meet the following targets: Generating 16 MW Reaching 95,000 HHs Reaching 500 MSMEs Reaching 200 Public Institutions		Mandatory to be matched with SECF objective To be filled by Fund Manager
2	Types of Renewable Energy Project proposed: Energy access Productive use of energy PPP projects with LG/PG Commercial and industrial application		Mandatory to be one of the fours To be filled by Fund Manager
	Technical Evaluation – 70
3.1	Technical Aspects of the project	40
3.2	Social Aspects of the Project	20
3.3	Risks assessment/monitoring and other aspects	10
	Financial Evaluation – 30
4.1	Financial aspects of the project	30
	Total Score	100

All the full applications must get a minimum of 70 marks to be recommended with justifications for further approval to the Investment Committee (IC) for approval. The current Investment committee of CREF will work as an Investment committee for SECF too.