Renewable energy and energy efficiency financing for poorer households and small to medium enterprises.
The report outlines evidence on barriers to scaling up, lessons from financing schemes and energy smart funds and their use
Abstract
This brief report has been produced in response to an Evidence on Demand Help-Desk request. It supports a DFID project business case for proposed renewable energy and energy efficiency financing schemes for poorer households and small to medium enterprises to be implemented in 4 Caribbean states. Capitalised by financial institutions, these schemes will use experience from other initiatives to work towards achievement of results.
The report outlines evidence on barriers to scaling up, lessons from financing schemes and energy smart funds and their use and considerations for effective design. It covers examples of financing schemes that have been used before to target households and SMEs.
The review finds that there is some good evidence of the barriers to scaling up renewable energy and energy efficiency for households and SMEs, but that this is very specific to country context. There is relatively limited evidence of the impact of financing schemes, although some specific country level cases that take a comprehensive approach do show some evidence of good results.
The more successful schemes recognise that responding effectively to demand and tailoring to the local context is paramount. To ensure sustained impact and successful exit in the future, adequate resources are needed to reduce investor risk and close gaps in government, consumers and civil society capacity.
Citation
Doyle, J. Renewable energy and energy efficiency financing for poorer households and small to medium enterprises. Evidence on Demand, UK (2012) 12 pp. [DOI: 10.12774/eod_hd016.dec2012.doyle]
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