| Overview : IC - International Consultant - Energy Economist for the GCF ‘Accelerating the Transformational Shift to a Low-Carbon Economy in the Republic of Mauritius – Component 1’ project Project Background Project title GCF ‘Accelerating the Transformational Shift to A Low-Carbon Economy in the Republic of Mauritius’ project Project Description The Green Climate Fund (GCF), through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is providing financial support and expertise to assist the Government of Mauritius in achieving their targets set in the Long-Term Energy Strategy 2009-2025 and to empower the two entities, namely the Mauritius Renewable Energy Agency (MARENA) and the Utility Regulatory Authority (URA) for the development and regulation of Renewable Energy (RE), respectively, in Mauritius. In this context, the project – Accelerating the transformational shift to a low-carbon economy in the Republic of Mauritius - is being implemented at national level and is financed under the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The project is being implemented in 3 components whereby Component 1 is focused on the institutional strengthening of MARENA and URA in order to equip them accordingly for the accomplishment of their respective mandates. The MARENA has been set up in 2015 as per the Mauritius Renewable Energy Agency Act 2015 and has for main objective the promotion of the adoption and use of renewable energy in Mauritius. The objectives of MARENA as enunciated in the MARENA Act are to: - Promote the adoption and use of renewable energy with a view to achieving sustainable development goals;
- Advise on possible uses of liquid natural gas;
- Create an enabling environment for the development of renewable energy;
- Increase the share of renewable energy in the national energy mix;
- Share information and experience on renewable energy research and technology; and
- Foster collaboration and networking, at regional and international levels, with institutions promoting renewable energy.
The Utility Regulatory Authority (URA) has been set up in 2016 in accordance with the Utility Regulatory Authority Act 2004 to regulate utility services, namely electricity, water and wastewater in Mauritius. The objectives of the URA are to ensure the sustainability and viability of utility services; - protect the interests of both existing and future customers;
- promote efficiency in both operations and capital investments in respect of utility services; and
- promote competition to prevent unfair and anti-competitive practices in the utility services industry.
There are currently 4 and 10 staff respectively at each of these two institutions. An Energy Economist is required to provide technical assistance on the following aspects: - strategic planning and recommendation of policies and regulations;
- macro and micro economic analyses;
- costing and budgeting;
- capacity building for the development of RE in Mauritius; and
- forecasting and economic outlooks, including market trends on the energy and renewable energy sectors both locally and internationally.
Scope of Work The Energy Economist will be based at MARENA, and will interact with representatives of government agencies, as well as with groups representing the interests of public and private businesses. The economist will be focusing, amongst others, on issues related to: renewable energy resources, energy storage, grid modernization, competitive supply and basic service, integration of distributed energy resources, long term energy contracts, electricity generation and power markets, sustainable transportation and heating and cooling. MARENA has already developed a Renewable Energy Strategic Plan (RESP) with an accompanying Implementation Plan, which details the strategic goals that Mauritius wants to achieve in the coming 5 years in terms of RE development. The 8 strategic goals that have been developed within the RESP are: - Increasing On-Grid RE Technologies;
- Boosting Off-Grid RE Technologies (Electricity, Transport, Heating/Cooling);
- Smartening the Grid;
- Accelerating the Development of Sustainable Transportation;
- Research, Demonstration, Deployment and Capacity Building;
- Fostering a dynamic RE Economy;
- Strengthening International and Regional Linkages; and
- Developing Coherent and Effective Communication Pathways.
These goals are broken down into sub-goals, activities and sub-activities with expected outcomes and KPIs, which need to be completed over a 5-year period. SADC/GCF Co-funded Consultancy Services MARENA is also benefitting from a co-financing from the South African Development Community (SADC) and in partnership with GCF, to undertake various RE related studies. The consultancy services will assist to accelerate RE penetration in Mauritius to meet the target of 35% self-sufficiency by 2025 in terms of electricity supply through a progressive increase in the use of RE. A consultancy firm will be appointed by December 2018 and the scope of works are as follows:- - Component 1 – Development of guidelines for assessment and approval of RE technologies with activities such as development of Grid Codes, guidelines, norms and standards for RETs and institutional processes;
- Component 2 - Assessment and development of incentive schemes for deployment of RE with activities such as conducting a gap analysis on the conduciveness of RE policy and regulatory environment and development of incentive strategies and schemes;
- Component 3 - Development of funding strategies and schemes for accelerating RE transition with activities such as development of new funding strategies and schemes and associated institutional arrangements; and
- Component 4 – Development of a framework for Green Jobs in RE sector with activities such as assessment of skills needs and gaps and proposal of institutional arrangement for promotion of green jobs.
The above consultancy is over a duration of 1 year with both field missions and home-based. The Energy Economist is required to provide assistance to the Chief Technical Advisor (to be recruited under the GCF project) for the completion of activities within the 4 components above. He/she is required to make required consultations with relevant stakeholders such as, but not limited to, Central Electricity Board, Ministry of Energy and Public Utilities and Utility Regulatory Authority (URA) during the duration of this assignment. Refer to Detailed TOR Deadline for Submission: 06 January 2019 on the UNDP jobs on https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_jobs.cfm | 
