Grid Code Expert – Capacity Building for ZESCO in Scaled Renewable Energy: CIGZambia

Cities and Infrastructure for Growth Zambia

Position: Grid Code Expert – 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 30 days in Zambia and a further 100 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 will bring expert knowledge to support and facilitate the System Operator, Transmission and Distribution departments in ZESCO, the Energy Regulation Board of Zambia (ERB) and other stakeholders in the already formed Renewable Energy Grid Code Review Working Group in developing amendments to the existing transmission and distribution grid codes to ensure they are suitable for the connection of grid scale intermittent or variable output renewable generation (in particular wind and solar).

They will work alongside a team of other experts providing other capacity building and training to ZESCO in the field of grid scale renewables and they will support ZESCO in ensuring that the codes and standards that apply to renewables are sufficient to enable them to plan and operate an efficient and safe system.

The consultant should possess strong technical skills and experience in these areas having delivered similar support and grid code drafting 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 facilitate workshops, bringing a wide range of experience and capability together and to encourage learning and development and provide technical mentoring to an identified small group of engineers who will be undertaking the Grid Code review.

Project Responsibilities

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.

Kick-off Workshop: The consultant will then provide an overview of the steps required to produce a draft renewable energy chapter to be added to the existing grid codes and lead a workshop with the WG to facilitate their review of the available documents, benchmarking of other International Grid Codes and to start to prepare a suitable draft.

Workplan support: The consultant will set timescales and roles and responsibilities for the WG team and supervise them in undertaking the reviews and benchmarking required to prepare the draft. This support will be provided in the form of formal workshops and meetings and also via email, video conferencing and screen-sharing with individuals or small groups. As it is important that the draft grid code is prepared for consultation in a prompt manner, this will require regular contact with the WG to ensure that they are progressing whilst ensuring that they have the opportunity to undertake the review and drafting themselves.

Medium-term support: It is expected that once an initial draft of the grid code requirements have been prepared the consultant will support the stakeholder engagement and  consultation process, providing input on any required amendments and support the WG in presenting to the Grid Code Technical Committee and the Distribution Grid Code Review Panel.

Lessons Learnt Workshop: Following the drafting and publishing process, the consultant shall prepare and facilitate a workshop to disseminate lessons learnt and ensure that the WG and technical committees are well prepared to enable any future reviews required as the network in Zambia changes.

Resourcing and Reporting

For the initial period, whilst the initial draft of the grid code requirements is being prepared, it is expected that the role will be full-time; reducing to part-time for the remainder of 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 writing and adapting Grid Codes and Standards for Renewable Energy, with particular reference to countries with a similar network and generation profile to Zambia.
• 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 CV to be considered, subject line in email must be completed as follows: Grid Code Expert – Candidate Last Name, First Name

Deadline for Applications: Sunday 15 March, 2020 @ Midnight