The Transforming Energy Access (TEA) platform is set to receive £126 million in new funding from the UK government. Announced on November 5th 2021, designated as Energy Day at the global climate summit COP26, this support will provide fresh impetus towards an inclusive and just clean energy transition.

Since its inception in 2016, the research and innovation platform TEA has supported the technologies, business models and skills needed to improve energy access for people in underserved communities and regions whilst at the same time developing lower-carbon local economies. TEA has so far delivered improved access to energy for 9.5 million people, created almost 75,000 sustainable long-term jobs, supported the prototyping and development of 349 new clean energy access technologies, whilst also avoiding nearly 1 million tonnes of carbon emissions in the process.

Over the past five years, TEA has also generated £599 million of private and public funding for clean energy technology research and development. Now this new investment will enable TEA to scale up its activities and reach even more people: TEA is forecast to play a role in reaching 25 million people with improved clean energy access by 2026. TEA is also able to ramp up its support for clean energy access solutions in Asia and Africa, and it is anticipated that programme will be in a position to leverage £1.3 billion of investment, whilst creating 170,000 new long-term green jobs, over the next five years.

Consigning harmful and polluting carbon-based energy to history is at the heart of the TEA project and delivering access to clean energy on a larger scale is critical to that mission. It is also essential to support economic development and job creation to ensure a just transition for developing nations.

Committed to improving the lives of people through access to clean energy, Energy 4 Impact is thrilled that the TEA platform has reached this important milestone. Peter Weston, Managing Director at Energy 4 Impact, says that

TEA funding has been critical to a number of programmes led or jointly implemented by Energy 4 Impact. These include: enabling clean energy businesses in Africa and Asia to grow through crowdfunding; helping agricultural, e-mobility and other productive use of energy businesses in Africa to expand and increase incomes; exploring options to provide vulnerable households in poor urban communities in Sierra Leone with clean cooking technologies; and providing advice to clean energy innovators to develop their technological solutions and build viable businesses in Africa.

says Peter Weston.