EDP Group, a Portuguese multinational that operates throughout the value chain of the electricity sector, launches for the second consecutive year the A2E Fund (Access to Energy), which supports projects for access to renewable energy in developing countries. The company will allocate around half a million euros to initiatives that promote environmental, social and economic development. The funding program will include profitable and non-profit entities from around the world wishing to develop projects with countries already included in the first edition: Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania and now also covering Nigeria.

The decision to launch the second edition of the program represents a strengthening of EDP's commitment to sustainability and the need to combat poverty and electrical exclusion that still affects millions of people, especially in remote rural communities and underserved populations in developing countries.

“Today, more than 840 million people do not have access to electricity, which puts them in a serious situation of exclusion. Ensuring access to energy for the most remote communities, enabling the creation of sustainable ecosystems, is a necessary condition to break the cycle of poverty and contribute to the social and economic development of these regions, ”says António Mexia, CEO of EDP Group.

Entries can be made until November 26th, followed by an evaluation and pre-selection phase. Selected projects will be announced in early 2020 and are expected to be implemented throughout the year. The Fund will provide financial support of between 25,000 and 100,000 euros for each project. Last year, A2E received 108 entries and 450,000 euros were made available. The full rules and application form can be found here.

Maintaining the criteria, the program focuses on five priority areas: education, health, agriculture, business and communities, as well as taking into account social impact, partnerships, sustainability, expansion potential and financial viability.

The A2E strategy foresees investments of € 12 million by 2020 in the acquisition of companies with sustainable energy access solutions. The first company to have a stake in the Fund was SolarWorks!, which operates in Mozambique to market decentralized solar energy solutions. The choice of countries covered by the EDP fund is related to the program strategy, which has given priority to investments in East Africa.

About EDP

With over 20 years of experience, EDP is one of the largest private companies in the electricity sector operating throughout the value chain. The Company, which has over 10,000 direct and outsourced employees, operates in Generation, Distribution, Transmission, Trading and Energy Services. It has six hydroelectric and one thermoelectric generation units, and serves about 3.5 million customers through its Distributors in São Paulo and Espírito Santo. Recently, it became CELESC's main shareholder in Santa Catarina. In Brazil, it is a reference in areas such as Innovation, Governance and Sustainability, having been in the B3´s Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE) for 13 consecutive years.