Purpose

To analyse, understand and build capacity for addressing the challenges associated with lending to the tea and sugar industry for sustainable energy investments and enhance networking among financial institutions interested in financing these sectors.

Main Activities

• Consult sugar and tea industry representatives on financing barriers to energy development;
• Assess the challenges and risks facing domestic and regional financial institutions associated with financing energy projects in the tea/sugar industry;
• Review the constraints to the development of mechanisms for reducing financial risks;
• Develop mechanisms for overcoming financial barriers to developing renewable energy and energy efficiency service (REES) units;
• Train financial institutions and sugar and tea industry representatives on financing REES projects, risk assessment and mitigation measures;
• Enhance networking and dialogue between domestic, regional and international financial institutions and investors.

Expected Impact

• Increased capacity of financial institutions in understanding the risks of financing REES in agro-industries, mitigating risks and undertaking REES investments in the cogen and tea industries;
• Development of set of financial and risk mitigation instruments (including reports and short articles on financial barriers) accessible to the regions financial and sugar/tea community in order to facilitate REES investment;
• Laying the groundwork for the development of a network of domestic, regional and international financial institutions and investors interested in financing REES in target countries;
• Production of a website with information on the cogen and small hydro financing opportunities.