The Partnership on Women'™s Entrepreneurship in Renewables (wPOWER) | OES OCC 16 005

Opportunity Information: Apply for OES OCC 16 005

The Partnership on Women's Entrepreneurship in Renewables (wPOWER) grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number OES OCC 16 005) is a U.S. government funding solicitation aimed at expanding and deepening the wPOWER initiative, a program designed to strengthen women's entrepreneurship in clean energy and increase clean energy access in underserved communities. The program is centered on the idea that women can be powerful drivers of energy access when they are trained, supported, and connected to markets as entrepreneurs and leaders within the clean energy value chain. By promoting women-led distribution and business development around small-scale clean technologies, the initiative also targets broader development outcomes such as poverty reduction, improved health, and greener economic growth.

The opportunity supports projects operating at the grassroots level in East Africa, Nigeria, and India, where wPOWER works to build local clean energy ecosystems that intentionally include women as entrepreneurs, suppliers, trainers, and community-based change agents. The clean energy solutions emphasized in the solicitation include practical, decentralized technologies that can be deployed quickly and used directly by households and small businesses, especially solar products and clean cookstoves. These technologies are particularly relevant for rural and low-income communities that lack reliable electricity and still depend on traditional cooking fuels, which are associated with major health risks and time burdens that often fall disproportionately on women.

The Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) indicates several priority focus areas for proposed projects. One core area is empowering and supporting women clean energy entrepreneurs, which can include training, mentorship, business development assistance, and support for building networks that help women start, sustain, and scale enterprises. Another major emphasis is conducting research that advances the field of women-focused clean energy entrepreneurship, such as studies that identify what business models work, what barriers persist, how distribution networks function in rural settings, and what policy or market interventions most effectively improve outcomes for women entrepreneurs and their customers. The NOFO also highlights the need to address financial barriers, recognizing that limited access to credit, working capital, inventory financing, or consumer finance can prevent women entrepreneurs from growing businesses and can reduce adoption of clean energy products among low-income customers. Finally, the solicitation explicitly seeks to grow the broader wPOWER Partnership itself, suggesting that competitive proposals may include strategies to expand membership, strengthen coordination among partners, and amplify impact through collaboration and shared learning.

From an administrative standpoint, the award is structured as a cooperative agreement, meaning the U.S. government anticipates an active partnership role during implementation rather than a hands-off grant relationship. The issuing agency is the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. The funding activity aligns with energy, environment, and health objectives, reflecting the cross-cutting development impacts of clean energy access and cleaner household energy technologies. The listed award ceiling is $1,500,000, and the original closing date for applications was June 10, 2016, with the opportunity created on April 13, 2016.

Eligible applicants include a range of nonprofit and educational organizations, including U.S. nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status (other than institutions of higher education), public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, and private institutions of higher education. The description also notes eligibility for foreign not-for-profit and nongovernmental organizations, educational institutions, and public international organizations, indicating an openness to international implementers and multi-country partnerships. Overall, the opportunity is designed for organizations capable of combining on-the-ground programming with partnership-building and evidence generation, all while keeping women entrepreneurs and last-mile energy access at the center of the proposed work.

• The Bureau of Oceans - Int. Environmental - Scientific in the energy, environment, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "The Partnership on Women'™s Entrepreneurship in Renewables (wPOWER)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 19.017.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2016-04-13.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2016-06-10. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,500,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, Others.

Apply for OES OCC 16 005

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