International Water Management Institute (IWMI) has an exciting opportunity for an Electrical Engineer/Power System Engineer to support the multi-year Solar Irrigation for Agricultural Resilience (SoLAR) project, which is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

Project Background

IWMI is implementing a regional project titled “Solar Irrigation for Agriculture Resilience in South Asia (SoLAR)” with funding support from a Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The main goal of the project is to contribute to climate-resilient, gender, and socially inclusive agrarian livelihoods in South Asia by supporting national government efforts to promote sustainable solar irrigation. In the process, the project will also pave the way for sustainable and equitable groundwater governance by tackling some of the policy distortions such as perverse electricity subsidies which have created the current negative interlinkages between the water and energy sector in South Asia. This project will be implemented in four South Asian countries of Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan in partnership with government agencies mandated to implement policies and programs on solar irrigation pumps(SIPs) in their respective countries. The duration of the project is four years, from December 2019 till November 2023.

Major activities to be implemented in Nepal includes impact evaluation and GESI study of SIPs, installation and impact evaluation of micro-grid (MG) systems to connect SIPs to grid, design and implement customized training programs to local technicians, design and implement national forums on policy-relevant themes, and contribute in conducting regional training/knowledge-sharing events.

Scope of Work

The consultant will support with the following tasks

• Provide a big picture understanding of the energy sector transition challenges in Nepal, with a special focus on solar irrigation pumps.
• Coordinate/manage project activities in Nepal in close coordination with the regional project leader, Nepal country representative, project implementing partners, and relevant staff members
• Develop an annual work plan, ensure smooth implementation of it, and track the progress of each activity/deliverable on a regular interval (e.g. monthly)
• Facilitate bi-annual meetings (scheduled around in January and June) of the Country Project Management Committee (C-PMC), prepare meeting minutes, and keep in touch with the C-PMC members by providing them with regular updates.
• Work closely with the Alternative Energy Promotion Center (AEPC) and Nepal Electric Authority (NEA) to design and implement an MG system for connecting SIPs to grids. Look at the pros and cons of various MG design and suggest the best possible options for the Nepal context
• Design a framework for assessing the effectiveness of the MG system, coordinate for continuous monitoring of relevant technical and socio-economic parameters required for assessing effectiveness at regular intervals, and develop an assessment report on the effectiveness of the MG system at the end of the project period.
• Coordinate effectively with project implementing partners in Nepal, AEPC, and NEA as well as other relevant stakeholders for smoothly implementation of the project as well as to facilitate uptake of project findings in policies and programs.
• Design and implement a customized training program(s) for local technicians in Nepal and develop a report of the training program and reflect insights in the report about the potential for developing youth and women as a local Solar Technician/entrepreneur.
• Design and implement national forum (one per year) on policy-relevant themes and develop event reports as well as policy brief based on deliberation in the forum.
• Manage, in coordination with the IWMI researchers, finance and administration team, the vendor for conducting Impact Evaluation of SIP.
• Develop project reports for regular reporting to the donor
• Lead/contribute to developing scientific publications in collaboration with the project team

Expected deliverables

• Status on the progress of each activity/deliverable of SoLAR project in Nepal as per defined format [before the monthly meeting scheduled on the last Friday of every month]
• Report/Minutes of Country Project Management Committee (C-PMC) meeting [ January and June 2021]
• A brief note on the first national forum [January 2021]
• Customized training module for 2nd training (if needs updating of existing training module further, in consultation with project partners) [January 2021]
• A brief report on a framework for assessing the effectiveness of the MG system for connecting SIPs to grids. It should contain an overall evaluation framework, including criteria for evaluating effectiveness, indicators & parameters to monitor, monitoring frequency, monitoring data recording format, etc [February 2021]
• A report on the suitable model of the MG system in the context of Tarai Nepal in general, and study area in particular, based on draft reports on the institutional model and technical models, prepared by consultants and further review of relevant literature [March 2021]
• Coordinate and manage field works, partnership, and technical services required for the MG connection in the project site [January-June 2021]
• A policy paper on various models of SIPs in Nepal, with a SWOT analysis for each of the models, by situating the SIP model within the larger energy transition context of Nepal [May 2021]

Requirements

The successful candidate will possess the following:

• Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering/Power System Engineering or a closely related field, with 10 years of experience of working on Renewable Energy (RE) sector, or Masters in Electrical Engineering/Power Systems Engineering or a closely related field with 5 years of RE related experience.
• RE related experience should be in the context of Nepal, with a focus on solar energy for multiple uses – domestic solar, and solar for the agriculture sector.
• Experience in implementing solar irrigation projects, and implementing micro-grid projects (in the context of solar, or micro-hydro) is needed.
• Excellent understanding of a wide range of renewable energy issues, such as energy financing, energy efficiency, energy audits, regulatory frameworks for the energy transition, and broader understanding of institutional issues such as the importance of energy access for livelihoods, challenges, and opportunities of including GESI framework and understanding of working under Nepal’s federal structure is needed.
• Demonstrated experience in writing technical reports on topics such as solar irrigation pump design and implementation, micro-grid design and implementation, solar-related training manuals, or larger policy-relevant papers and reports is needed.
• Experience in conducting technical training for solar irrigation and experience in advising government agencies on policies, or design of RE pilots will be an added asset.

Source:https://apply.workable.com/international-water-management-institute/j/D73FDAECA1/