Compliance Studies Engineer – Capacity Building for ZESCO in Scaled Renewable Energy

Cities and Infrastructure for Growth Zambia

Position: Compliance Studies Engineer – Capacity Building for ZESCO in Scaled Renewable Energy

Location: Lusaka or Kafue Gorge Training Centre, Zambia

Start Date: 1 April, 2020

Contract Duration: 12 months part-time, including up to 30 days in Zambia and a further 110 days in home location.

About Cities and Infrastructure for Growth Zambia (CIGZambia)

CIGZambia is a facility that provides high-quality independent technical advice and assistance to Zambian government bodies and private sector organisations engaged in projects /programmes that help harness the potential of Zambia’s cities and towns to act as drivers for economic growth and job creation. CIGZambia is funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID).

The overall programme objectives are:

• increasing urban productivity
• improving inclusive access to urban economic infrastructure services
•  increasing investment into urban economic infrastructure services
•  enhancing national and regional integration between cities

About the Role

The consultant in this role will work alongside a team of other experts providing other capacity building and training to ZESCO in the field of grid scale renewables and the overall aim of the team is to ensure that the codes, standards, processes and procedures that apply to renewables are sufficient to enable them to plan and operate an efficient and safe system.

This element of the program aims to define the processes and procedures that intermittent renewable energy generators connecting to the network will need to follow to ensure compliance with the relevant codes and standards. It will also involve providing high-level training to a diverse range of people on the requirements and also more detailed training to a smaller group of engineers in how to undertake the required static and dynamic studies and commissioning tests.

This element will occur in parallel with another element, led by another consultant working with a dedicated working group (WG), which includes the drafting of the new renewable energy grid code. Therefore, attendance at some of the WG meetings will be necessary to ensure that the two elements are co-ordinated.

The consultant will bring substantial knowledge and experience to support and facilitate the Transmission and Distribution Network Planning departments in ZESCO, as well as other stakeholders, including other departments of ZESCO and the Energy Regulation Board of Zambia (ERB) in defining the compliance and commissioning certification process required for intermittent renewable generators connecting to the network in Zambia. The overall aim is to build capacity with a selected group of ZESCO engineers (the Connection and Compliance team or the CC team) to ensure that they have the understanding and capability to create Terms of Reference (ToR), review and undertake these types of studies themselves for a range of different generator capacities and types.

It is important that the consultant possesses strong technical skills and experience in undertaking compliance modelling and studies using DigSilent Power Factory software. They need to have delivered similar support and studies in other similar network settings, as well as proven project management, communication and leadership skills operating in an engineering consulting environment. It will be key that they can prepare and deliver high quality technical training sessions to attendees with a wide range of backgrounds.

Project Responsibilities

The Role is split into 2 parts:

•  Definition of Connection and Compliance Process, Codes and Standards
• Preparation and Delivery of Compliance Studies Training Courses

Definition of Connection and Compliance Process, Codes and Standards

This part of the role would be working closely with a group of ZESCO engineers from the System Operations and Transmission Network Planning teams (the CC team) and also alongside the Grid Code Expert Consultant and the Working Group (WG) formed to draft the Grid Code Amendments for Renewable Energy Power Plants..

Document Review: The consultant will review the work that has been undertaken to date by the Working Group (WG) including the existing Grid Codes, the appendices of requirement for generators prepared for the recent scaling solar programme, the WG Terms of Reference, the WG presentations on progress to date and the Renewable Energy Impact Study that has recently been undertaken for RES4Africa and that the WG intends to use as the basis for some of the Grid Code drafting. They will also consider the previous ToR used by generators to undertake compliance studies and flow-charts covering the connection and compliance process as detailed in the existing grid codes. The consultant will use these as the basis for an initial gap analysis and to prepare for a kick-off workshop.

Kick-off Workshop: The consultant will prepare material for and run a kick-off workshop with the CC team. The workshop will be used to document and review the current procedures, flow charts and compliance documents and compare them with other international codes and standards. It will also include attendance at elements of the WG meetings held in the same week to ensure that the draft Grid Code Amendments for Renewable Energy Power Plants incorporates suitable renewable energy integration requirements.

Following the workshop, the outcomes should be shared with a wider group of stakeholders in ZESCO and ERB to ensure that a wider group of individuals understand the process.

Workplan support: The consultant will set timescales and roles and responsibilities for the CC team and supervise them in their review of gaps in the current processes and compliance studies requirements; in the benchmarking of requirements against other international codes; and in determining any opportunities for improvement. They will also need to determine, at this stage, whether the Grid Code amendments being prepared by others to address the requirements for renewable generators will need to include any elements from this element of the works or whether they can continue from draft form into published form.

Compliance Process Workshop: The consultant will prepare material and run a second workshop with the CC team to support them in finalising the documentation of the compliance process including a flow chart; ToR for connection and compliance studies; a visit to an operational renewable energy plant to understand the commissioning process; and provision of any input that is required into the draft renewable energy grid code.

This will also involve providing DigSilent training on how to undertake particular elements of modelling and studies and may also involve additional analysis methods. The overall aim of the workshop will be to prepare the CC team to complete the documentation and undertake example compliance modelling and studies themselves over the following few weeks.

Following the workshop, the outcomes should be shared with a wider group of stakeholders in ZESCO and ERB to ensure that a wider group of individuals understand the process.

Continuing workplan support: The consultant will set timescales and roles and responsibilities for the CC team and supervise them in finalising the compliance process documentation and undertaking example compliance studies.

During workplan support periods, the support to the CC team will be provided via email, video conferencing and screen-sharing with individuals or small groups.

Preparation and Delivery of Compliance Studies Training Courses

This part of the role involves preparing two training courses; delivering them a number of times (approximately 3 times for each) and handing them over for later delivery at the Kafue Gorge Training Centre (In the style of ‘Train the Trainer’).

There will a high-level training course aimed at a diverse range of people interested in the impact of renewable energy on the network and it should provide an overview of the key aspects that need to be considered when connecting these generators to the system (like control, fault levels, inertia, reactive power requirements and harmonics).

There will also be a more detailed training course which includes undertaking some elements of the actual DigSilent studies and understanding the details of the required commissioning tests.

Resourcing and Reporting

The resourcing requirement will vary during the contract.

The consultant would report to the Project Co-lead, Technical.

The consultant will work with others in the Scaled Renewable Energy project team to deliver this component of the programme and to support others in the delivery of other components as required. It is estimated that the full scope of this programme will be delivered over a period of 12 months starting in April 2020.

Key Knowledge, Experience and Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree in Relevant Subject (Electrical Engineering).
• Recent knowledge and extensive experience of performing Connection and Compliance Studies for Renewable Energy projects and experience in a wide range of grid code and power quality requirements.
• Advanced knowledge and experience in the use of software tools used for load flow, fault level, static and dynamic studies. Experience with DigSilent Powerfactory is essential;
• Experience in facilitating workshops, providing training and providing technical mentorship
• Demonstrable skills in written and verbal communication and proven report writing skills to high professional standards.

Applications:

Please send your CV to [email protected]. For the CV to be considered, the subject line in email must be completed as follows: Compliance Studies Engineer – Candidate Last Name, First Name

Deadline for Applications: Sunday 15 March 2020 @ Midnight