Regional- Africa-EU Renewable Energy Cooperation Programme (RECP)

The project will support the establishment of a clear and stable policy and regulatory framework in seven countries (Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia) in order to create a conductive environment for private investments in renewable energy projects and contribute to additional access to energy and a cleaner energy mix. It will address the most pressing bottlenecks along the policy cycle facing meso-scale renewable energy projects, both on- and off-grid.

The project aims to build capacity within the government, and supporting the formulation of private sector-oriented renewable energy policies and regulations, as well as their implementation. Activities will be at the instigation of both public and private sector, however will always be targeted at (and therefore must be ‘owned’ by) public sector institutions. Subjects will be prioritised based on the potential for decreasing barriers towards renewable energy investment in the country.

intec's services

Based on preliminary studies and an analysis of the political economy of the sector in each country, intec will identify activities, which will contribute to unlocking renewable energy opportunities, and formulate a national action plan for the duration of the project. The implementation of this action plan will be monitored and supported by a National Supervisory Board composed of representatives from the main public institutions of the sector. intec will play a key role in supporting the National Supervisory Board and public institutions formulate their needs and develop specific requests for activities. This will ensure appropriateness of the action plan and political ownership.

On the basis of the needs identified in the preliminary studies, six types of activities will be carried out:

1. Providing a platform for policy interaction through Stakeholder Workshops;
2. Enabling officials to learn from peers in other countries through Bilateral Exchanges;
3. Providing the foundation for evidence-based decision making through Policy Studies;
4. Building capacity of public institutions through Trainings;
5. Assisting with drafting of policy and regulatory documents through Formulation Support;
6. Assisting with realisation of policy objectives through Implementation Support.

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Rwanda - Capacity Building Programs and Technical Assistances to Strengthen the Energy Sector in Rwanda - "Scaling-up Energy Access Project"

To organize, provide and supervise a capacity building program (training, technical assistance, coaching, mentoring, etc.) for the energy sector in Rwanda, especially in the Ministry of Infrastructure (MININFRA), the Rwanda Energy Group (REG) and EARP (Electricity Access Roll-out Program PIU) to develop a strong sector management capacity (at individual, institutional and organizational level) and to improve these institutions’ investment planning, technical, operational, finance and support services functions. The capacity building programs will include advanced long-term, medium and short courses, which will be organized locally or abroad.

intec's services

• Capacity needs assessment of MININFRA, REG and EARP
• Organization, provision and supervision of an extensive training and capacity building program and provision of technical assistance.

Topics of the capacity building and training program include:

• Energy policy, strategy and management: Development of generation resource; renewable energy development; utility restructuring and best practice; regional projects and power pools; system operator and power trading; substation operation and maintenance; strategic planning and M&E,
• Energy development, investment and program implementation: Financial analysis, planning and modelling; bulk power generation and transmission network planning; investment planning and funding; IPP and PPPs, operations and management; asset management; project management; construction and contract management; procurement; environmental issues; monitoring and evaluation; project financial management; strategic maintenance planning, planning and design, GIS, load flows and load forecasting.

The technical assistance covers inter alia:

• Energy efficiency development programs; loss reduction in the electrical network; power trading; regional interconnection, energy planning strategy

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ECOWAS - Reduction of Distribution Losses in the Framework of the GIZ Project "Promoting a Climate-Friendly Interconnected Power System in West Africa"

ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African states comprises 15 West African countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. The overall GIZ project supports the regional dissemination of experience concerning renewable energies and aims at improving the capacities of utilities in the long term. The "electricity distribution" part of the project, together with selected utilities, identifies options for the reduction of distribution losses, implements exemplary measures and disseminates the results in the region.

intec's services

• Task 1: Data collection, review and analysis of current situation in the member utilities: Diagnosis on the prac-tices of loss reduction, catalogue of good practices, proposal of related initiatives/projects for each utility, ex-amination of the adequacy of existing master plans in the distribution utilities and proposal of required updates including costs
• Task 2: Study to quantify system losses: Determination of loss levels by utility, estimate of share of technical losses, preparation of mitigation measures, review of / proposal for energy audit system for each utility, preparation of indicative plans and targets for capital expenditure to reduce overall losses possibly to below 10%
• Task 3: Loss reduction investment plans and cost estimates: development and recommendation of a comprehensive short- and long-term loss reduction investment plan including costs, recommendation of technical measures such as norms, standards and loss management guidelines
• Task 4: Training and capacity building: training needs assessment of utility staff, recommendations for capacity building programs in line with WAPP's capacity building program for member utilities and in coordination with GIZ's capacity building activities of the overall project.

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Regional - Africa-EU Renewable Energy Cooperation Programme (RECP) – Market Information and Project Scouting

The Renewable Energy Cooperation Programme (RECP) aims at improving framework conditions for investment in renewable energy projects in Africa. The present project will stimulate the market for renewable energy in Africa by encouraging and supporting private sector engagement through providing market information as well as project scouting and match-making. The aim is to prepare tailored, practical, value adding information about investment destinations, market segments and specific projects  to interested stakeholders, the primary target group being renewable energy clients, project developers and financiers  

The RECP operates in six focus countries The present assignment comprises four countries: Rwanda, Senegal, Uganda and Zambia. The market briefs are to be developed / updated for 19 countries.

intec's services

• Preparation of RE market briefs (general information on the country, the energy sector, the policy and regulatory environment and the RE potential) for Western African countries
• Provision of developer guides for two market segments (on-grid: PPA [MW], Captive Power [kW-MW]; off-grid: Mini-grids [kW-MW], small scale systems [W-kW]) in Senegal
• Identification and development of  associated model business cases in the shape of a pre-feasibility analysis
• Identification of project and business opportunities
• Preparation of case study fact sheets in publishable format to be disseminated through the RECP network or other partners’ sites
• Preparation of gaps, opportunities and challenges report for Senegal including policy & regulatory issues, skills and capacity needs and specific information needs

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Regional - Green Climate Fund Readiness Support Program

Countries: Bangladesh, Caribbean Region, Morocco, Namibia, Peru, South Africa, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam, Zambia

Under this program, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) allocated financial resources for investment projects to support selected partner countries to develop and implement their respective strategies for climate resilience and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The program included the following activities:

• Support programs for 3 selected national and regional development banks with a view to their accreditation for direct access to the GCF,
• Development of 10 national investment plans for projects suitable for GCF financing,
• Establishment of national, prioritised project pipelines of existing, updated or new GCF-ready projects, including 30 prefeasibility studies for suitable projects, or update of existing studies for suitable projects.

Projects referred to the following sectors: Forestry and agriculture, renewable energies (wind, biomass, PV), energy efficiency, transport, water and sanitation, and municipal solid waste management
 

intec's services

Overall coordination of the programme

In addition, intec delivered services in the field of renewable energies (wind, biomass, PV) as follows:

Preparation of national investment plans:

• Country and sector-specific analyses of national potentials and priorities for mitigation, adaptation and development
• Identification of emission-intensive or adaptation-relevant priority sectors and sector-specific intervention areas
• Risk assessment (institutional, technological, environmental, social, fiduciary, financial)

Preparation of national project pipelines:

• Screening of investment proposals
• Implementation of pre-feasibility studies or update of existing studies
• Technical and financial evaluation of eligible investment proposals
• Economic review of proposals (simplified cost-benefit analyses, quantification of environmental benefits in terms of GHG emission reduction, etc.), ranking of investment proposals.

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Nigeria - Promoting Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Investments in Nigeria through Financial Institutions (Particularly Solar PV)

The project was part of IFC's program in Nigeria for solar market development and finance. One of its major components was to provide technical support (and possibly financial instruments) to local financial institutions and help them develop a business line catering to the emerging solar market in Nigeria.

As part of the start-up activities of this program, IFC commissioned this study to assess the market conditions and demand of energy efficiency (EE) and small renewable energy (RE) financing in general and off-grid solar technology financing in particular, among Nigerian corporates and SMEs.

intec's services

• Preparation of an overview market report on EE / small RE and solar PV market conditions in Nigeria
• Survey of corporates / SMEs to assess companies' EE practices and appetite for EE / small RE / solar PV in-vestments, their interest in external financing, and any real or perceived risks from their perspectives
• Supply chain survey to assess the technical and financial capacities of the EE / RE / solar equipment (100 kW to 5 MW) supply chain participants in the country
• Interviews and consultations with local financial institutions to understand their perspective and position to-wards financing EE / RE / solar projects and Nigerian corporates and SMEs, and the local financing institutions' needs for support from international financing institutions.
• Participation in final dissemination workshops in Lagos and Abuja.

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Regional - EU Programmes on Energy Efficiency

Countries: Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia

The project aimed at supporting financial intermediaries (FIs) and final beneficiaries (FBs) during the implementation and operation of EU Programmes on energy efficiency ("Facilities"). These facilities combine grants provided by the EU with EIB credit lines which aim at promoting the implementation of energy efficiency projects (sub-projects) in the EU and EU candidate countries. EU and EIB established a new facility called "Green Initiative" which covered Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia.

The Consultant's role was to assist the EIB and to support FIs and FBs in the implementation and operation of the Green Initiative and other similar facilities to be managed by the EIB. Services to be provided by the Consultant were two-fold: general assignments, i.e. assistance to the FIs and FBs, but also services directly related to specific energy efficiency subprojects.

• General assignments include sub-project pipeline screening, marketing activities, training to FIs and general support to FIs.
• Specific sub-project-related services include preparation of sub-project applications for financing, sub-project verifications, energy audits, and energy performance certificates.

intec's services

• Lead on engineering activities for all sub-projects in Poland, and contribution to this work in other countries,
• Sub-project preparation and development of procedures and forms to ensure their eligibility, i.e. energy assessments, energy audits,
• Support to marketing and awareness raising for investments in sustainable energy projects in Poland,
• Training and capacity building to project financing institutes, local engineers and SMEs,
• Support to sub-project origination processes and preliminary screening,
• Establishment of pre-approved small-scale sub-projects for Poland,
• Local project management and administration for Poland.
   

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