National Consultant Renewable Energy - Colombo

UNDP with the Ministry of Environment and Renewable Energy proposed a project concept to the Global Environmental Facility on “Appropriate Mitigation Actions in the Energy Generation and End-Use Sectors in Sri Lanka”. This was approved in March 2014, and project preparation activities are scheduled to begin. The fully developed project document should be submitted to GEF for technical review by October 2014.

The objective of this Individual Contract is to further develop the approved project concept into a medium-sized project (MSP). The key activities are:

Conduct of baseline studies and surveys to come up with the pertinent data and information that are required to verify and confirm the earlier identified baseline projects;
Conduct of a logical framework analysis (LFA) mainly to verify and firm up the project planning matrix (PPM) or results framework (log frame);Detailed design of project components and activities, along with detailed multi-year budget as per the requirements of the GEF Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Policy;Update of Environmental and Social Screening of the project;
Identification and assessment of demonstration schemes including calculation of GHGs emission reductions;Conduct of stakeholder and project partner coordination meetings (e.g., demonstration hosts and co- financers), and establishment of the appropriate project implementation and management arrangements;Institutional arrangements including organizational structure governing the project;Preparation of the UNDP-GEF Project Document (ProDoc) and GEF CEO Endorsement Request (CER) Document based on the GEF- approved project concept, i.e., GEF- approved PIF (Annex 1); and,
Finalization of the ProDoc and CER Document. The final output of the initiation plan will be a UNDP-GEF project document and GEF CEO Endorsement Letter ready for the submission to GEF Secretariat.

The purpose of the PPG is to fully design the activities, outputs, and outcomes of the project and to fully develop a full set of project documentation for submission to the GEF Secretariat and approval. Normal rules for development of medium-sized GEF projects apply. Copies of the GEF templates and guidelines can be found at: http://www.thegef.org/gef/guidelines_templates

The purpose of this consultancy is to have a team of national consultant and work with the assigned International Consultant to develop a technically sound and detailed project proposal, for the above project. The proposal and its annexures should be ready for the submission to GEF by September 2014. The National Consultant Is expected to have a very good professional and academic background on renwable energy, energy policy and renewable energy finance.   The national consultants will be also responsible for identifying and acquiring necessary proofs of cost-sharing/ co-financing commitments (normally over 1:4) towards the project by Govt., NGO, UN, Bilateral, Multilateral and Private Sector sources.

The Consultants will be responsible for ensuring that a wide range of stakeholders are consulted in the process, and to keep the government counterparts fully briefed on project design and outputs. The National Consultants, together with key government counterparts, will quality assure the deliverables that will provide specialist inputs to the project design.

National Consultant will be responsible for the below activities. The following tasks must be fairly shared between them in coordination with International Consultant who is responsible for the delivery of MSP documentation.

 Conduct of baseline studies and surveys to come up with the pertinent data and information that are required to verify and confirm the earlier identified baseline projects to support sound situation analysis.

Barrier Analysis:

This will involve further study and validation of the actual nature and extent/magnitude of barriers that were identified and described in the GEF- approved PIF. The study will also look into the various implemented and planned activities by the national and local governments in addressing such barriers, as well as the difficulties (if any), and the requirements in addressing the barriers. The opportunities in addressing the barriers as well understanding the risks of not being able to remove the barriers will be determined, including how to make good use of the opportunities and mitigate the potential risks.

Verification of Baseline Projects:

The project preparation activities will undertake a desk review and consolidate the information, data and targets present in the (1) National Energy Policy and Strategies (NEPS) (October 2006); (2) National Action Plan for the Green (Haritha) Lanka Programme (January 2009); (3) Mahinda Chintana (National Development Framework, Vision for the Future) (2010); (4) Renewable Energy Resource Development Plan – RERDP (1/2012); (5) National Energy Concession Plan (NECP); (6) National Energy Management Plan (EnMAP) of Sri Lanka; and (7) the public investment strategy of the GoSL for 2014 to 2016 (Unstoppable Sri Lanka, 2013). Once the desk review is completed based on identified gaps, the project preparatory studies will be undertaken to address critical gaps, analyse barriers and update information to the current period. Further, the actual relevant activities will be ascertained that can be subsumed (and whose budget will form part of the co-financing) into the proposed GEF project. Other potential relevant baseline projects that were not identified or included in the PIF will also be investigated.

 Baseline Scenario Establishment:

There are also a number of other plans, initiatives and projects that are under implementation to meet the energy savings and emission reduction targets that were set through the various established relevant plans, policies and programs. The desk review will consolidate all these sources of information and establish the current position as of end 2014. Further, baseline studies will also involve the conduct of energy demand and consumption surveys and GHG inventories in the selected sector in prioritized provinces. Also using the information that will be produced from the barrier analysis and the evaluation of the baseline projects, the forecast growth trend in the implementation of climate change mitigation measures in the energy generation and end-use sectors in Sri Lanka will be established and be used as bases for the energy utilization improvements and GHG emission reductions that the UNDP-GEF project will bring about.

 Logical Framework Analysis:

This will be carried out for the purpose of verifying and firming up the project results framework, i.e., the project planning matrix (log frame). This will be attended by the relevant stakeholders and partners of the proposed project whose inputs about the barriers/issues/concerns as well as opportunities, along with the data/information on these as gathered from the studies and surveys conducted, will be used in verifying and firming up the project: (a) objective; (b) outcomes that will contribute to the realization of the project objective; (c) outputs that have to be produced to contribute to the realization the project outcomes; and, (d) baseline and incremental activities that will deliver the project outputs. The appropriate SMART indicators will be developed for the project objective, and for each project outcome and for each project output. The corresponding baseline and target values, means of verification and critical assumption (if necessary) for each indicator will also be identified by consensus among the project stakeholders and partners. This will be presented as Project Planning Matrix (PPM) or project results framework in the UNDP-GEF Project Document. The project log frame will be finalized based on consensus among the project stakeholders and partners.

Detailed Design of Project Components:

This activity will be conducted in coordination with international consultant and in consultation with project stakeholders;Based on the finalized project log frame, and from the evaluation and analyses of the results of, and data/information derived from, the studies conducted for use in the design of specific project activities, the detailed design of the project activities will be carried out. The baseline activities can be retained as is, or can either be modified with additional/supplementary incremental activities or completely changed to fit the required interventions. The fully incremental activities are to be designed to remove identified barriers and for enhancing the realization of global environmental benefits (expressed in terms of CO2 emissions reduction);The preparatory activities will study and identify the development, establishment and implementation of the below framework through pilot demonstrations of the selected appropriate mitigation actions, and the application of the relevant supportive regulatory and market based policy instruments; The design of the project components should take into account the planned outcome(s) and outputs as described in the GEF-approved PIF. A clear understanding of the planned outputs is necessary to come up with the design of the relevant project activities (baseline and incremental) that will be carried out to deliver an output. In the design of activities, the project development team take into account the potential linkages among the activities within a project component or with activities in the other project components to ensure synergy and complementarity; Specifically, in the project component on the implementation of appropriate mitigation actions, the identification and selection of investment projects and development of appropriate financial instruments will be finalised. Projects with prioritized investments will be identified and selected on the basis of abatement costs, and their potential for scaling-up based on the preliminary analysis and consultation with partners.
Possible sectors that the proposed project may target are: Tourism sector (hotels) - for energy efficiency and renewable energy interventions;Commercial buildings for energy efficiency interventions;Other industrial sectors that may be focused under the proposed project are: Apparel, food processing, dairy, and other small industries; The magnitude of GHG emission reductions that will be attributable to the incremental activities of the proposed GEF project interventions (from barrier removal activities and the directly supported demonstrations) will be estimated in detail.A detailed multi-year budget will also be prepared following the standard template provided in the UNDP-GEF project document template that reflects the mandatory requirements of the GEF Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Policy. Based on the agreed project planning matrix (log frame), a M&E plan will be developed showing the delineation of responsibility, estimated budget, schedule and frequency of the conduct of each M&E activity. Also, based on the project log frame, Annual Targets shall be prepared. Part of this M&E task is the preparation of the GEF CCM Tracking Tool for the project. Lastly, a sustainability plan that will outline the principles and guidelines for ensuring the long-term sustainability of project achievements will be prepared. Such plan will also outline an exit strategy, seeking the continuation of key activities/achievements without the need of long-term international financing.

In addition:

The project development team shall also address the specific recommendations that were provided and update the Environmental and Social Screening of the project. Where needed, studies to address any opportunities and risks identified will be commissioned.
Definition of management arrangements: The organisational structure governing the project will be decided. This will include identification of the project board. Undertake consultations with partners and partner agencies to secure agreement(s) on project implementation arrangements; including roles, responsibilities, and accountability. Document these consultations. This will help to (a) define strategic interventions that can be implemented by the project to establish key sustainable factors for all stakeholders; (b) provide recommendations for incorporating the concerns of the local communities and how to address gaps in the design and elaboration of the Environmental and Social impact management related to the RE/EE investments.
Explore national, multilateral and bilateral co-financing opportunities and secure required co-financing letters from each participating government institutions, bilateral development partners, multilateral development partners and NGOs who wish to provide cash or in kind contributions to the project;
As part of the project design, special attention shall be given to any comments and recommendations that were given by the GEF Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP) regarding specific scientific and/or technical challenges. Also, council comments as well should be addressed in the detailed design of the project activities.
Stakeholder consultations during design: Mobilize and engage stakeholders during project design. Negotiate partnerships with on-going projects to align their activities and the project to build synergies. A validation workshop will gather representatives from all relevant stakeholders to present; discuss and validate the final draft project document. Document these consultations;
The Consultant will work with the appointed staff of the Climate Change Secretariat to improve in-house technical capacity in renewable energy in the context of NAMA Expected Outputs

The key deliverables of the National Consultant are listed below:

Inception report describing the workplan of the consultant to deliver the assignment;  Consolidation of all technical and consultation inputs into a clearly written UNDP Project Document with all relevant sections and annexes and its finalization;Stakeholder consultation reports wherein short summaries will be included as part of Project Document Annexures;Completion of a CEO endorsement request form and its finalization; Completed CCM tracking tool, Environmental and Social Safeguard Screening following the UNDP procedure and producing the checklist and summary report; Respond to comments of the GEF Sec upon FSP documentation submission, i.e. project document and CEO endorsement request;Gender Analysis document;Co-financing letters secured/ Validation workshop completed.

Technical work

Strong expertise in climate change mitigation, renewable energy, energy efficiency and/or sustainable energy project development/ implementation; Experience in developing donor projects;Familiarity with the International Conventions addressing Climate Change Experience in drafting GEF UNDP project proposals and familiarity with GEF policies, templates and requirements for MSP;Ability to pick up new terminology and concepts easily.Maturity and confidence in dealing with senior members of national institutions;Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;Excellent written communication skills, with analytic capacity and ability to synthesize relevant collected data and findings for the preparation of quality analysis for the project proposal;partnership building skills with multi- dimension partners, people skill for conflict resolution and negotiationExcellent coordination skills and result oriented collaboration with colleagues – especially for this case the national level consultants.Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;Build strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;Good team player who has ability to maintain good relationships.

Education     

Master’s Degree or equivalent in a relevant area such as electrical engineering, renewable energy technology, climate change mitigation, energy management, or related fields.

Experience

Minimum of 10 years of demonstrable experience and knowledge in the earlier mentioned fields of expertise, in particular experience working on sustainable energy project development;Previous experience in GEF- funded project formulation or project implementation.Minimum 5 years of experience with project design and development, implementation and management  in Sri Lanka or South Asia;Demonstrated  (in terms of projects designed and developed , papers published or academic qualifications) strategic technical and intellectual skills in the substantive area;Computer proficiency, especially related to professional office software packages (Microsoft Office).Language
Excellent English language skills, particularly in the preparation of written documents.

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