Terms of Reference (ToR) for Local Minigrids Engineer.
Job Description
Terms of Reference (ToR) for Local Minigrids Engineer.
Vacant Background:
The Ministry of Energy and Water Resources (MoEWR) is dedicated to improving access to reliable and sustainable energy, particularly in urban and rural areas. To achieve this goal, the ministry is implementing minigrid projects aimed at providing electricity to underserved communities. To ensure the effective implementation and operation of these minigrids, MoEWR seeks to engage a Mini-Grid Local Engineer to design and implement of the pilot projects.
Project objectives:
The Africa Minigrids Program (AMP)
The Africa Minigrids Program (AMP) is a country-led regional technical assistance program for minigrids, active in an initial 21 African countries. It is led by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with funding primarily from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented together with Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), linking up with a wide array of Minigrid stakeholders in Africa and beyond.
AMP’s overall objective is to increase access to electricity by improving the financial viability and promoting scaled-up commercial investment in renewable energy minigrids. The program is focused on Minigrid cost-reduction, across hardware costs, soft costs, and financing costs, and innovative business models for minigrids. With lower costs, minigrids will be more financially viable, commercial capital flows will increase, and end-users will benefit from lower tariffs and expanded service.
The AMP program has two main elements: a cohort of national projects and a regional project.
1. An initial 21 national projects[1], each with a common architecture consisting of five components: (i) policy and regulations, (ii) business model innovation with private sector, (iii) innovative finance for minigrids scale-up, and (iv) digital, knowledge management, and (v) M&E.
2. A regional project acting as the knowledge, advocacy and coordinating platform for AMP. This will be achieved through a suite of knowledge tools, technical and operational expertise and support, communities of practice, and promoting innovative digital approaches for minigrid cost reduction.
The AMP national project in Somalia
As part of the UNDP-supported, GEF-financed Africa Mini-grids Program (AMP), the AMP in Somalia seeks to “support access to clean energy by increasing the financial viability, and promoting scaled up commercial investment, in low carbon mini-grids in Somalia, with a focus on cost reduction levers and innovative business models”. The baseline situation is characterized by a low electrification rate (35%), the lack of electricity grid infrastructure, and the predominance of and reliance on diesel mini-grid systems, owned and operated by private Electricity Service Providers (ESPs), charging remarkably high tariffs. The project strategy corresponds to the unique nature of the energy sector in Somalia, and the AMP’s concentration on clean energy, by focusing on digital transformation and institutionalization of ongoing initiatives to expand the adoption of solar PV technologies, and promote hybridization of existing diesel minigrid systems as a financially viable path to driving down tariffs and reducing GHG emissions in Somalia.
This is achieved through supporting the Government on the national and sub-national levels with: (1) operationalizing existing mini-grid policies and regulations through digital transformation, including performing techno-economic analyses, designing tools for tariff calculation, and supporting the institutional capacity building of the mini-grid public sector; (2) implementing pilot project(s) to showcase the benefits of hybridization and remote telemetry of performance monitoring and consumption tracking, as well as establishing and capacitating mini-grid industry associations to encourage and strengthen private operators and developers, and introducing academic programs to build private sector capacity to design, operate, maintain and manage solar and hybrid mini-grids; (3) assessing previous and ongoing financing schemes to develop operational guidance and offer training support to stakeholders in the domestic financial sector; and (4) running an effective M&E, QA and KM systems to oversee and guide project implementation
3. Objectives and the Scope of Work:
The primary objective of this consultancy is to support the design of three pilot Mini-Grid projects by carrying the work at project sites, collect data and conduct surveys and local community engagements.
The Mini-Grid Local Engineer in collaboration with the International Mini-Grid Design Expert will conduct the following:
1. Data Collection and Surveys:
a. Demographic survey of the area
b. Socio-economic data and analysis to understand the local stakeholder’s energy use patterns.
c. Assessment of the most suitable solar mini grid locations based on the physical site survey. This will serve as basis for the technical design of the solar mini grid project and to prioritize the locations.
d. Collects all the relevant data for each site (geological, technical, commercial & financial) and findings shall be recorded in a suitable data collection format and substantiated with site photographs.
e. Estimate the most optimum size of the solar mini grids projects along with optimum energy storage solutions for the identified locations.
f. Collect the data of three the existing solar mini grid projects and capture learnings, best practices and reasons for successes or failures, generation capacity, method of implementation, timeframe, business model adopted, performance, power evacuation scenario, techno-commercial aspects and socio-economic impact of project.
2. Technical Design Support:
a. Check the availability of suitable space/area, based on conducted site survey details to install the proposed system.
b. In collaboration with International Mini-Grid Design expert, support local insights in the engineering of proposed solar mini grid plant including layout, shadow analysis, technology selection, technical description & specification of all the components and auxiliary power requirements. The design shall be in such a way that it can withstand the environmental disasters and natural calamities like storms, flood, cyclone or any others prevailing in the country.
c. Assist in preparation of detailed engineering drawings for the projects including but not limited to the following:
· Solar array layout (to be located in completely shadow free space identified during site survey).
· Single line diagram (clearly showing and differentiating existing energy flow diagram and proposed solar power generation, distribution and integration with the existing power evacuation network).
· Details of cable routing and termination (including complete specifications).
· Control room equipment layout and complete equipment interconnection.
· Develop a set of documents including BOQ of the three Mini-Grid Pilot sites, complete specifications, warranty terms and details of all the equipment’s to be supplied with the power plant.
3. Conduct Local community engagement to incorporate their input in the designing phases of project.
4. Deliverables
The consultant will be expected to deliver the following outputs:
a. Comprehensive analysis of data collected from site assessments and surveys to support design decisions.
b. A detailed technical design documents, specifications, and BOQ of the Mini-Grid Pilot Projects based on local conditions.
c. Local community engagement in the planning phases of project.
5. Duration:
The consultancy is expected to commence on 5th October 2024 and conclude on 31 December 2024 with a total duration of 3 months.
[1] Participating countries are organized in 3 cohorts: Cohort 1 – Angola, Burkina Faso, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, Somalia, and Sudan; Cohort 2 – Benin, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Sao Tome and Principe, and Zambia; Cohort 3 – Burundi, DRC, and Liberia.
Skills and Qualifications
The Mini-Grid local Engineer should possess the following qualifications and experience:
a. BSc Degree in Electrical Engineering or Renewable Energy, Master’s degree in Electrical engineering, or energy related discipline.
b. Minimum requirement: At least 7 years of practical work experience in Designing, and operation of Mini-Grid Solar Projects.
b. Demonstrated experience of Solar projects specifically site assessment, and implementations in Somalia.
a. Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to assess complex technical
Issues and propose effective solutions.
f. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work collaboratively
With diverse stakeholders.
7. Reporting:
The consultant will report directly to Eng. Abdifatah Abshir Ibrahim, the Director of Energy at the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources.
8. Payment Options for Deliverables:
The payment for the consultancy services is a Deliverable-Based Payments: Payments will be made in installments based on the completion of specific milestones as outlined in the ToR.
Attachments
Draft ToR for Mini-Grid Local Engineer.docx
How to apply
Interested candidates should submit a detailed proposal outlining their qualifications, relevant experience, proposed methodology, and preferred payment option(s) to africanminigridproject@gmail.com cc: dg@moewr.gov.so; energy@moewr.gov.so by submission deadline of 30th Sept 2024; 11:00 PM.
11. Confidentiality:
All information provided to the consultant during the course of the consultancy shall be treated as confidential and shall not be disclosed to any third party without prior written consent from MoEWR.
