Green Grids Initiative (GGI) Secretariat Grant Competition

Please note that this is expected to be a grant competition and not a contract competition.

It is advertised on Contracts Finder to ensure that the market is aware of this opportunity.

It is also advertised on Find A Grant Service.

Electricity networks are a critical enabler of the clean energy transition.

At COP28 over 130 countries committed to work together to achieve the goal of tripling renewable energy capacity globally by 2030, which will depend on a massive expansion of grids.

But we are not building them fast enough and grid connections are already creating bottlenecks for new clean energy projects.

The Green Grids Initiative (GGI) aims to accelerate the development of grid infrastructure globally.

The GGI brings together an ecosystem of actors from across government, finance, regulators, operators, industry, academia and civil society to address key challenges and provide a conduit for investment and assistance to deliver the clean energy transition.

Since its launch at COP26, the GGI has mobilised this ecosystem through partner-led regional and thematic working groups, which work to identify and overcome key barriers.

Through this approach the GGI has successfully developed several active programmes and activities, including knowledge sharing, capacity building, and project-level support.

To further support delivery of these goals, the GGI needs to grow in scope and scale, building on existing activities to address new regions and challenges.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) is therefore providing a grant to increase the capacity of the GGI through funding an externally hosted GGI Secretariat, which will allow the programme to expand on the current demand-driven approach and provide additional support to GGI's leading partners and programmes.

DESNZ is running a grant competition to award up to £500,000 of grant funding to deliver the funded activities for the GGI Secretariat, until 31 March 2025.

It is understood that the GGI may require ongoing secretariat support and DESNZ will consider reviewing ongoing arrangements in good time to explore opportunities for continuation of funding.

The grant recipient will be required to have the ability to seek and secure match funding from other organisations such as philanthropies, other Governments, or international bodies.

As this competition is for grant funding, the grant recipient will be barred from making a profit in delivering secretariat activities.

The submission deadline has been extended and is now 11 July 2024, 13:00 BST.