Annual Report: Powering Agriculture - An Energy Grand Challenge for Development (PAEGC) Financial Year 2018

The objective of Powering Agriculture is to support the development and deployment of clean energy innovations that increase agriculture productivity and stimulate low-carbon economic growth in the agriculture sector of developing countries to help end extreme poverty and extreme hunger. Powering Agriculture utilizes the financial and technical resources of its Founding Partners to support its Innovator cohort's implementation of clean energy technologies and business models for households, farms, villages, cooperatives, and industrial facilities. The initiative focuses on enhancing agricultural yields/productivity, decreasing post-harvest loss, improving farmer and agribusiness income-generating opportunities and revenues, and increasing energy efficiency and associated savings within the operations of farms and agribusinesses. During the 2018 financial year, Powering Agriculture implemented several key activities, including the 2nd Powering Agriculture Xcelerator (PAX) Workshop and Power Agriculture Innovator Showcase (PAIS) in Nairobi, Kenya, which brought together innovators from the 2013 and 2015 cohorts. The Powering Agriculture Investment Alliance was also established, creating a partnership with AlphaMundi and Factor[e] that will catalyze a minimum of US$25 million in private sector finance for ventures with the potential to achieve transformational development impact in the clean energy/agriculture nexus. The initiative also published a variety of knowledge-sharing products, including "A Powering Agriculture Guide on Financing Types for Innovators," two studies, and associated policy briefs, in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The PAX webinar series continued, with a 2-part session entitled "You have the product, what about the team?" Part A: Building the Team and Part B: Keeping Your Team. Site visits to 3 of the 13 Innovators from the 2015 cohort were conducted, during which progress was verified and beneficiaries were interviewed. The Powering Agriculture East Africa Hub (Hub), managed by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, actively promoted the use of renewable energy solutions and energy efficiency in food value chains in the region. The Hub activities focused on capacity building and the development of viable business models, integrating the Innovators' work where possible. The Hub transferred the energy efficiency knowledge gained through its work with Kenya's tea sector to other sectors (dairy) and regions (South-East Asia, East Africa). The Powering Agriculture grand challenge will draw to a close in the next financial year (October 2018-September 2019) with the culmination of the last set of innovator grants and the end of the Powering Agriculture Support Task Order. As part of this culmination, Powering Agriculture expects to accomplish the following major items: publication of technology-focused papers documenting advances in the clean energy/ag nexus and summarizing lessons learned from the Powering Agriculture innovators, site visits to the remaining 2015 Innovators, Powering Agriculture Final Event, and Powering Agriculture Final Evaluation. The Powering Agriculture Founding Partners would like to thank the team from the Powering Agriculture Support Task Order, implemented by Tetra Tech ES, Inc., for their assistance in preparing this report.