1. Programming for Rural Energy Services
 2. Energy and Rural Development
 3. Defining Productive Uses of Renewable Energy
 4. Eligibility for GEF Funding
 5. Guiding Principles for a PURE Approach
 6. Designing a UNDP-GEF PURE Project
 7. Lessons Learned from Rural Energy Programmes with PURE approaches
 8. Contacts 9. Definitions

Eligibility for GEF Funding

GEF funds the additional costs associated with transforming a project with national benefits into one with global environmental benefits; for example, choosing energy from a small hydro plant rather than diesel fuel meets the same national development goal (power generation), but is often more costly. The GEF incremental cost (IC) approach means that the additional economic costs of choosing a GEF supported activity in preference to one that would have been sufficient in the national interest can be funded by the GEF. As GEF is only supporting non-GHG emitting energy technologies, energy sources such as LPG are not included. The IC analysis is based on the key project outcomes from the project logical framework.

Projects approved within GEF Operational Programme (OP) 6 under Strategic Objective 2, Renewable Energy for Rural Energy Services, will - in addition to the criteria for OP 6 funding - be expected to differ from past off-grid projects in three major ways:

  1. Projects will be encouraged to be technology neutral , that is, to support a range of technologies that will suit a variety of local situations and conditions.

  2. Projects will be required to demonstrate clearly the incorporation of lessons from past experiences into their design and they will be required to continue to learn from experiences while under implementation.

  3. While many projects in the past have been of a demonstration character, the projects supported under this strategic objective will be required to incorporate clear and effective strategies for ensuring sustainability and replicability after project completion. Such strategies can either take the form of integrating renewable energy with government electrification or social service programmes making use of government subsidies, or of integrating renewable energy with income generation and productive uses wherein profitability and improved productivity provides incentives for long-term growth in markets for RETs.

Because most GEF-funded interventions are expected to be blended into rural energy access programmes, the GEF funding will target the incremental costs associated with removing barriers to the successful deployment of the renewable energy elements of overall programmes and projects. Policy support for improved planning, establishment of standards, and sustainable financing mechanisms, will be important elements of GEF support in this area.

Effective indicators are needed to monitor implementation and to measure impact.