Update: Challenge Funds into Phase 2

By Jane Spencer (Loughborough University).

July saw a busy month of reviews for both the ‘Sparking the Cooking Supply Chain’ (SC2) and Cooking Support on Mini-Grids (COSMO) Challenge Funds, with 29 projects submitting final reports within two weeks of each other for review and approval to phase two of funding.

SC2

SC2 projects spent 6 months delivering a Sustainable Supply Chain Plan within their given context. The reports gave different approaches for the problem and proved interesting reading with some real innovations. MECS had funding for a maximum of four projects into phase two, which was the implementation phase of the developed supply chain. The decision wasn’t an easy one but funding for an additional 20 months was awarded to:

• ATEC in Rwanda
• IITB in India
• Nyalore in Kenya
• WACN in Nepal.

Read more about these projects here. The projects have just started their work and details will be made available when completed.

COSMO

In addition, COSMO saw the delivery of seven reports on the incorporation of eCooking onto an existing or already commissioned Mini-Grid. Phase one saw the delivery of a financial model to show the impact of cooking loads, again with some very different approaches and budget lines. Funding was capped at three projects to move into the delivery of the system and was awarded to EarthSpark in Haiti, PowerGen in Tanzania and Southampton in Kenya. These projects will have two years to deliver the changes to they system and understand the impact eCooking has to both the MG operation and finances. Read more about these projects here.

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Featured image credit: Centre for Research in Energy and Energy Conservation (CREEC), 2022.