REF Call 2 – Component 3: Research and Development (R&D)
The third component of the REF Research and Innovation (R&I) is focused on Research and Development that aims to address key knowledge gaps within the off-grid sector that can spur scale-up of decentralized renewable energy systems for rural development. This component is divided into three subcomponents.
Sub-Component 1: University Challenge
The university challenge shall be an event where rural electrification related challenges be presented amongst universities in Nigeria. The purpose of the challenge is to enable the academic sector provide solutions to some identified challenges of the rural electrification programs, and offer innovative ideas or products, which speaks to the identified challenges.This challenge shall be conducted in phases amongst universities across the six geo political zones in Nigeria.
Sub-Component 2: Open Research Calls
The Open Research call is aimed to expose researchers to the research opportunities in rural electrification and renewable energy agenda. The call would enable the research communities to access funds to conduct and demonstrate researches addressing key questions on the challenges of, and funding options for rural electrification. Click to participate in the ongoing REF Call for Research
Sub-Component 3: Student Research AssistanceThe student research assistance component provides student researchers at the undergraduate, master’s and doctoral level with non-financial support to complete their research in topics of relevance to REA’s purview; this will be through providing access to REA staff, developers, project locations, documents/data and identification of knowledge gaps