Early Market Engagement Event - Green Grids Initiative (GGI) Secretariat

We are hosting an online early market engagement event on Tuesday, 26th March from 12:00-13:00 GMT. This will be an opportunity to hear more about the planned competition for the Green Grids Initiative (GGI) Secretariat.

If you wish to attend this event, please sign up at the following link:

https://forms.office.com/e/BQEeYQunri

We intend to go out to competition in the upcoming months.

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 an international based requirement and as such, is not advertised on Find A Grant Service.

BACKGROUND 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 considering 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.

Additional information: FUNDING This project is subject to funding being approved.

DESNZ is considering running a grant competition to award up to £500,000 of grant funding to deliver the funded activities for the GGI Secretariat, over a one-year period. 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 may 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 anticipated to be for grant funding, the grant recipient will be barred from making a profit in delivering secretariat activities.

TIMELINE This competition is expected to fund the activities of an outsourced GGI Secretariat function, commencing as soon as possible in Summer 2024. It is anticipated that the grant funding will run to end of the Financial Year 2024/2025. The grant recipient will be selected following a competition, which is expected to be open for 6 weeks.

Indicative activities to be funded are available in the Microsoft Forms link: https://forms.office.com/e/BQEeYQunri

Please note, this project is subject to funding being approved. This information is provided for market consultation purposes only and details regarding this competition are subject to change.