13 July 2012: The Private Financing Advisory Network of the Climate Technology Initiative (CTI PFAN) has issued a call for proposals from Central America and the Caribbean for the first Clean Energy Financing Forum for Central America and the Caribbean (CEFF-CAC) Business Plan Competition slated to be held on 26 April 2013, in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

CEFF-CAC is looking for interested parties with business proposals that benefit the environment, for example through greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions, increased energy efficiency or fewer impacts on air or water quality, and will seek to enable such proposals to obtain financing and investment. Although proposals are welcomed involving any Central American or Caribbean country, organizers are particularly interested in those involving Honduras, Jamaica, Panama or Trinidad and Tobago. The proposed project/business must promote or use “clean” energy technologies, products or services, such as biogas, biomass, biofuels, solar, wind, geothermal, hydropower, tidal power, energy efficiency, clean transport, waste-to-energy, or distributed and off-grid generation.

Participants that qualify for the second round of the competition will receive coaching and assistance from experts to create business plans that are financially, socially and environmentally sound, and that will be well received by potential investors. The closing date for the competition is 28 September 2012.

Participants will present their plans to potential investors at CEFF-CAC. The Forum will also feature a panel of judges composed of investors, industry specialists and business executives interested in enabling clean energy in the region that will select the best projects for the CTI Central America and the Caribbean Clean Energy Financing Awards.

CEFF-CAC is co-sponsored by the Climate Technology Initiative (CTI), its Private Financing Advisory Network (CTI PFAN), the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the International Center for Environmental Technology Transfer (ICETT). The CTI is a multilateral initiative, operating as an implementing agreement under the International Energy Agency (IEA). [CEFF-CAC Call for Proposals] [Publication: CEFF-CAC Guidelines for Proposals]