Procurement Notices

Energy is seen as the catalyst for economic development and is cross-cutting with all the 3 pillars of the Vanuatu National Sustainable Development Plan (NSDP), i.e. Society Goals; 3, 4, and 6; Environmental Goals; 1, 2, 3 and 4; Economic Goals; 1, 2, 3 and 4. The National Energy Road Map (NERM) 2016-2030 serves as the overarching sector policy has 5 priority policy objectives including: accessible energy, affordable energy; secure and reliable energy sustainable energy; and green growth. 

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) funds Barrier Removal for Achieving the National Energy Road Map Targets of Vanuatu (BRANTV) to promote the country to remove barriers facing policy, regulatory and technical hurdles to adopt renewable energy technologies. BRANTV is implemented by the Department of Energy Ministry of Climate with the main objective to provide an enabling environment of the energy access, sustainable energy, and green growth targets of Vanuatu, as represented in the country’s NERMs 2020 and 2030 targets.

As it stands, Vanuatu has approximately 8 years to realize the targets set in its NERM, i.e. 100% electrification with Renewable Energy by 2030. According to the latest Utilities Regulatory Authority (URA) monthly energy update, 80% of the energy source for the concession areas is non-renewable energy or diesel and according to the Post PAM Mini-Census Report, only 30% of the population have access to a reliable source of energy, and 70% including those in the rural remote areas have little or no access to secure and reliable energy services.

In light of this, the BRANTV Project through DoE is aiming to develop the National Off-Grid Rural Electrification Master Plan 2022-2030 which will complement the NERM IP thus aiming to realize the 100% NERM target by 2030. The initiative is to develop rural electrification plan which will indicate the resources required and facilitate financing to achieve the National Energy Road Map

Scope of Work

The consultant or consortium of consultants or consulting firm shall deliver three major activity and the sub-activities as mentioned below:  

1. National Off-Grid Rural Electrification Master Plan
2. National guidelines and standards
3. Policy and Regulatory Framework.

Activity 1:  Develop National Off-Grid Rural Electrification Master Plan

Activity 1.1: The consultant or consortium of consultants will prepare a detailed national off-grid rural electrification master plan covering up to 65 inhabited islands of Vanuatu. The work will include the following steps:

1. Use GIS tool and spatial data to map off-grid electrification needs across the country covering up to 2,000 villages.
2. Determine most appropriate system types for each locale.
3. Prioritization of locales (e.g. which to support in a first phase, etc.).
4. Determination of the best means of system installation and management for each proposed site. The detailed rural electrification plan will consider findings regarding the BRANTV project demos and consider institutional work on management systems.
5.  It will also consider (a) the sites identified under the national assessment of pico-hydro/ small micro-hydro potential; (b) identified sites for village-scale community PV; (c) identified sites for deploying family compound-scale PV nano-grids (of around 300 W each) across the full village; as well as (d) relevant institutional work for management of all such systems carried.

Activity 1.2: Identification of promising pico-hydro and small micro-hydro mini-grid (systems roughly in the range of 5 kW to 20 kW) village sites. For initially identified potential villages, work will include assessment of technical and economic viability, and, for priority sites, pre-feasibility work and pico-/ small micro-hydro replication plans. Findings/ sites will be considered in the preparation of the electrification master plan. Identification of initially promising villages will be achieved by a combination of (i) survey work and (ii) screening of proposals received from villages. This activity will also include identification of potential pico-hydro sites that may be suitable for pico-hydro / PV hybrid systems.

Activity 1.3: Preparation of national targets for pico-/ small micro-hydro mini-grids. This will be based on an assessment of potential for pico-hydro and small micro-hydro mini-grids (systems roughly in the range of 5 kW to 20 kW) to play a significant role in Vanuatu’s overall rural electrification plan. This activity may also include targets for pico-hydro/ PV hybrid installations.

Activity 1.4: Identification of villages that are suitable and promising for village-scale community PV systems (systems in the range of 3 to 10 kW, with or without mini-grid) and those that are suitable for deployment across the village of family compound-scale nano-grids (typical scale of 300 W). For initially promising villages, work will include assessment of technical and economic viability, and, for priority sites, pre-feasibility work and replication plans. Findings and recommended sites will be considered in the preparation of Vanuatu Off-Grid Rural Electrification Master Plan. Identification of initially promising villages will be achieved by a combination of (i) survey work and (ii) screening of proposals received from villages.

Activity 1.5: Preparation of national targets for (i) village-based community PV systems (with or without mini-grids) and (ii) villages to be served by family compound-scale PV nano-grids (of about 300 W each) to be deployed across the village. In the case of village-based community PV, these targets will be based on an assessment of potential for village community PV (systems roughly in the range of 3 kW to 10 kW) to play a significant role in Vanuatu’s overall rural electrification plan, as well as level of success with the project’s village community PV demos. In the case of PV nano-grids, targets will be based on an assessment of the potential for PV nano-grids deployed across a full village to provide the optimal electrification approach in a subset of the nation’s villages, as well as level of success of the project’s demos of village-wide deployment of family compound-scale PV nano-grids.

Activity 1.6: National Off-Grid Rural Electrification Master Plan for  Vanuatu

The outcome of the above mentioned activities will be the National Off-Grid Rural Electrification Master Plan

Activity 2:  National guidelines and standards

Develop a  national guideline and standard to support quality and cost-effective development of the off-grid national electrification plan.  

Activity 2.1:  

Preparation/ development and promotion of and adherence to national guidelines for design, sourcing, best price costing, installation, safety, and maintenance of:

1. Pico-/small micro-hydro mini-grids - The guidelines will draw from the results of activities carried out on sourcing, best price costing and put strong emphasis on safety. The design, installation and operation of pico-/ small micro-hydro project demos will adhere to the technical guidelines. The development of guidelines for hybrid pico-hydro/ PV mini-grids is included in this work.
2. Village community PV systems (with and without mini-grids) - The guidelines will draw from the results and put strong emphasis on safety. The design, installation and operation of the demos for the village/community -scale PV project demos will adhere to these guidelines.

Activity 2.2:

Preparation/ development, promotion, and enforcement of national standards for RE-based system mini-grids. The standards preparation work will include review of existing standards in comparable countries that may provide the basis for Vanuatu standards.

1. Pico-/small micro-hydro and associated mini-grids –These standards will be required to be met at any replication sites pursued via financing work. The preparation of standards for hybrid pico-hydro/ PV mini-grids will be included in this work.
2. Village community PV systems (with or without mini-grid) and associated mini-grids and for PV nano-grids demonstrated by BRANTV project. These standards will be required to be met at any replication sites pursued via financing work.

Activity 2.3:

Preparation/ development, promotion of, and adherence to national guidelines for sourcing, best prices for quality systems, installation, safety, operation (that will maximize battery life), and maintenance (including provision of replacement batteries and repair services) of household-scale and family compound-scale PV systems. Information to prepare guidelines will be drawn in part from sourcing/costing work and replacement battery as well as campaign to educate people on household level and compound level. These guidelines will be used in the design and implementation of the project demo villages where compound-scale PV nano-grids are deployed village-wide.

Activity  3: Regulatory and Policy Framework

Off-grid Rural Electrification Plan that promotes and ensures the quality development of off-grid renewable energy power systems.

Activity 3.1:

Development and promotion of regulations regarding electricity tariffs for off-grid rural renewable energy power provision (to be incorporated into National Off-Grid Rural Electrification Master Plan). The tasks include promotion of the proposed regulations for their adoption/approval and enforcement.

Activity 3.2:

Development and promotion of regulations regarding the management of (multiple household) off-grid renewable energy systems by owners or contracted managers (to be incorporated into National Off-Grid Rural Electrification Master Plan). Such regulations will facilitate owners of systems to either set aside funds or by other means guarantee to have funds available when needed for parts and repairs to ensure system sustainability. These will be adhered to at the BRANTV relevant project demo sites as a policy pilot and then be adopted and enforced nation-wide as the rural electrification plan is rolled out.

Activity 3.3

Research, drafting, and formulation of recommended preferential policies to encourage private sector investment and financing of off-grid RE. Proposed policies may, for example, extend duty free import status to more products related to off-grid RE power generation. As solar related products are already duty free in Vanuatu, this work will target achieving duty-free status for pico-hydro and small micro-hydro related equipment and target any gaps in duty free status of other solar related products. The preferential policies that will be promoted in this activity will not necessarily be limited to the area of import duties. At least some of the proposed policies will be adopted and implemented (incorporated into National Off-Grid Rural Electrification Master Plan).

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

The consultant or consortium of consultants is expected to achieve the following outputs:

1. Inception report covering the detailed approach and methodology
2. Draft National Guidelines and Standards
3. Draft Regulatory and Policy Framework
4. Draft of the National Rural Off-Grid Electrification Master Plan
5. Validation Workshop
6. Final Report National Guidelines and Standard, Regulatory and policy Framework and National Off-Grid Electrification Master Plan:

Institutional and Logistics Arrangements

The consultant or consortium of consultants or consulting firm is expected to work under the guidance of the Department of Energy, Electrification Unit in close collaboration with the BRANTV Project Management Unit (PMU) and is to report directly to the Director of Department of Energy department head. The consultant and his team will work from home, however, two visits need to be planned. First visit during the start of the work, at least for 30 days and 2nd visit will be during validation workshop and finalisation of report at least for 15 days. The consultant may hire their own team at local level.   All developed products under this assignment (incl. raw files and editable forms) will become the property of DoE.

Note:

For consortium of consultants, they shall confirm in their submission that : (i) they have designated one party to act as a lead entity, duly vested with authority to legally bind the members of the consortium which shall be evidenced by a duly notarized Agreement among the legal entities, and submitted with the proposal; and (ii) if they are awarded the contract, the contract shall be entered into, by and between UNDP and the designated lead entity, who shall be acting for and on behalf of all the member entities comprising the consortium.

Duration of the Work

In accordance with the requirements above, the Consultant is expected to commit to a maximum of 150 working days from 14th November 2022 to 16th June 2023.

Duty Station

The consultant or consortium of consultants will be required to work from home with two travels to Vanuatu. While being in Vanuatu the team may time to time be stationed with the PMU team. Office space will be provided at the DoE office.

• Strong analytical, reporting and writing abilities skills;
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
• Ability to plan, organize, implement and report on work;
• Comprehensiveness knowledge of building energy efficiency;
• Excellent presentation and facilitation skills.
• Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards;
• Positive, constructive attitude to work;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
• Proficiency in computer packages; good working knowledge of word processing and spreadsheet programs, particularly MS Word, MS Power Point and MS Excel and on-line communication/conference and training platforms such as Zoom, Google meet, WhatApp, etc.
• Maturity and confidence in dealing with senior members of national institutions.
• Excellent written communication skills, with analytic capacity and ability to synthesize relevant collected data and findings for the preparation of quality policy analysis
• Excellent coordination skills and result oriented collaboration with colleagues

Required Skills and Experience

The consultant or consortium of consultants have the following qualifications and experience:

The lead consultant (Project Manager) 

Education

• Master’s degree in electrical engineering, rural development, rural electrification, Energy Policy, Project Management, Economics or relevant subject

Experience

• Must have 10 years of experience in project management and preparation of national electrification strategies and implementation plans including Off-Grid Rural Electrification Master Plan in developing countries.
• Experience in  Electricity and Energy sector  of Vanuatu or the Asia Pacific region,
• Strong writing and editing skills in English
• Proven Capacity of approach and methodology to develop Off-Grid Rural Electrification Master Plan

The Consultant’s team must include a range of proven expertise and commensurate experience that together cover the following focus areas required:

• Expertise in technical aspects – including geospatial planning and data, design of national electrification strategies, service standards
•  Expertise in institutional frameworks for successful national electrification programs for access (including policy, strategic oversight, monitoring, management, and coordination sector-wide).
• Expertise in electricity tariff formulation and rationalization; and customer affordability analysis to support connection charge policy for NEMP
• Expertise in designing investment financing frameworks for NEMP and smart subsidy mechanisms involving public sector funding contributions.
• Expertise in legal and regulatory aspects of the electricity sector relevant to access scale-up

Each of the members of the team must have:

• Minimum of a university degree in electrical engineering, Rural electrification  economics, Energy Policy, finance, justice or business administration;
•  At least 10 years of experience in the areas of required expertise preferred
• Excellent communication skills, full proficiency in English, both written and oral

Language

• Excellent writing skills of English language is required. Working level knowledge of local language is desirable.

Technical and Financial Proposal and Schedule of Payments

Technical Proposal

The consultant or consortium of consultant must send a technical proposal that covers the approach and methodology to achieve the deliverables of the assignment along with action plan. The technical proposal must include the CVs of the experts as mentioned above.

Financial Proposal

The consultant or consortium of consultants must include the financial proposal based on Lump Sum Amount. The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee of all the consultants, living allowance, travel cost, insurance during the travel and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the consultant in completing the assignment. The contract price will be fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration

Schedule of Payment