| Overview : ****PLEASE NOTE THAT SEVERAL SECTIONS IN THIS ITB WERE UPDATED AND THE DEADLINE EXTENDED UNTIL 10 NOV 2016**** The UNDP operates in over 160 countries globally including additional remote missions in support of national projects. Each UNDP regional and project office is reliant of main power supply from the national energy supplier. These are usually coal fired power stations with little or no alternative power supply mix. The implication is that the total global carbon footprint of the UNDP is increased significantly. The quality and reliability of the main utility power is in most cases questionable, which further impact operations. In our efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of the organisation, the UNDP rolled out a programme of photovoltaic (PV) plants in the majority of its operational centres with the additional aim of reducing dependence on the main energy utility. The provided alternative energy solutions are in some cases effective, but in other cases are shown to be unable to substantially reduce the regional office’s reliance on utility power supply. The root cause analysis has shown the energy storage solutions provided are unable to meet the energy demand of the intended application. The maintenance and replacement costs of the current implemented cell technology prevent frequent system cycles and overall system scalability. In addition to the above mentioned UNDP in collaboration with various stakeholders is implementing several renewable energy projects globally, of which the majority are based on solar. As UNDP is present in many developing countries the environments in which PV systems are deployed vary with regards to climate, security and general support infrastructure. The user needs vary from the ability to reduce the total power consumption from the main utility during peak times, to providing alternative and backup power supply during mains utility failures. In some cases, the excess power generated from the ESS should be able to be fed back to the grid (or other users) through a smart switching capability. The requirement is for flexible and scalable energy storage systems that should suit various applications from domestic use to light industrial and full commercial usage. The input conditions (i.e. PV and utility input) and power usage trends of each of the potential users is currently unknown, but shall be defined on a case by case basis during secondary bidding. | 
