The Challenge
Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) aims to ensure universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy by 2030. Achieving this is vital for improving health, education, livelihoods, and economic growth. However, progress is falling short. Currently, 666 million people — mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and often in the poorest and most remote areas — still lack access to electricity, while 2.1 billion rely on polluting fuels for cooking putting both their health and the environment at risk. If current trends continue, hundreds of millions will remain without electricity and 1.8 billion will still lack access to clean cooking solutions by the end of the decade.
Innovation is essential to close these gaps, as many solutions are not yet commercially available, especially in developing countries. Accelerating innovation in technology, business models, and policy will help deliver affordable, clean energy to those left behind, supporting both SDG7 and global climate goals.
How TEA is addressing this challenge
Launched by the UK government in 2016, the Transforming Energy Access (TEA) research and innovation platform supports early-stage testing and scale-up of new clean energy technologies and business models, while building the local skills and capabilities needed for a just and inclusive energy transition across sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Indo-Pacific.
TEA’s work covers a range of technology areas, including clean energy supply technologies (next generation solar, zero-emission generators), super-efficient energy demand solutions (energy efficient appliances, sustainable cooling, modern cooking), and smart delivery solutions (energy storage, green grids, clean hydrogen).
By attracting investment, accelerating the commercialisation of innovative solutions, and fostering collaboration between the private sector, academia, NGOs, and international organisations, TEA is helping to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7). These efforts reduce reliance on fossil fuels, improve access to clean energy, and support local economic growth and sustainable development.
TEA’s theory of change
TEA is organised into a series of activities designed to support an inclusive clean energy transition in developing countries across sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Indo-Pacific, including:
- Foundational Research and Training: To improve the availability and quality of relevant clean energy public good data and information enabling decisions and action, and to build the skills and capabilities needed to deliver an inclusive energy transition in developing countries, with a focus on supporting the leadership of young Africans.
- Open Calls: To stimulate a pipeline of new ideas and innovators, particularly UK-international collaborations, in clean energy technologies and business models that have the potential to be commercialised and scaled-up in developing countries.
- Technology accelerators: To solve key performance and cost challenges in priority sectors, which act as barriers to the commercialisation and scale up of clean energy access.
- Venture building: To build up pioneering “lead firms” delivering new clean energy access technologies and business models, capable of leveraging private capital, achieving impact at scale, and shifting whole markets.
- Market building: To build the market infrastructure for clean energy access innovations, including the platforms and institutions linking innovators, financiers, policymakers, and other stakeholders that are needed to create conducive market conditions for the energy transition in developing countries.
- Country Demonstrators: To demonstrate clean energy partnerships and innovations at greater scale in specific geographic contexts.
Ayrton Fund
The TEA platform is one of the main delivery mechanisms for the UK government’s Ayrton Fund, which seeks to drive forward the clean energy transition in developing countries by supporting the research, development and demonstration of innovative clean energy technologies and the business models and systems needed to deploy them.
To find out about opportunities within the Ayrton portfolio visit the Ayrton Fund Explorer
