Abu Dhabi: Twenty-two projects have been shortlisted for this year’s loans given by Abu Dhabi Development Fund (ADFD) in coordination with International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) for renewable energy projects in developing countries.

The final selection of projects for $59 million (Dh216.53) second cycle fund will be announced at the Irena Assembly in January 2015. The beneficiaries of $41 million (Dh150.59 million) first cycle funds were announced in January 2014.

In the second cycle, the regions represented and technology mix were more widespread and diverse than in the first cycle, an official spokesman of Irena told Gulf News.

The project applications represented Asia, Africa, Latin America and Small Island Developing States.

There were more projects from Asia, including a mix of geothermal projects and a hybrid project that were underrepresented in the first cycle, he said.

The projects include solar PV (photovoltaic) broadening energy access, geothermal energy on-grid, small hydropower for small communities, hybrid solar and wind energy for rural electrification and bio pellet production combined with solar to reduce deforestation.

The selection committee shortlisted 22 projects considering geographic spread, technology diversity and national priorities of the countries applying, he said.

Nearly 80 project summary applications were received by the February 15 deadline this year.

Thirty-four applications were shortlisted by the panel of experts based on the projects’ potential to be transformative, replicable and innovative. The capacity to improve energy access and energy security was also considered.

The technical merit, commercial viability and socio-economic and environmental benefits were also reviewed and the list was shortened to 22 projects.

Of the 22 projects selected, 19 submitted full project proposals at the second stage of consideration.

There remains a high demand for concessional finance as demonstrated by over $1.5 billion worth of loans requested in total in the first and second cycle of the Irena/ADFD project facility. The need to scale up finance in renewable energy is clearly self-evident, the spokesman said.

Efforts continue to improve the facility including inviting co-funding partners, he said.

Irena is developing a results feedback framework for projects to further strengthen the performance of the facility. This aims to enhance learning to improve the selection process and project implementation, the spokesman said.