Renewable Energy Expert - Solar at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)

The Company

The Government of Kenya has adopted four priority areas to spur economic growth, create employment and transform the livelihoods of the citizens over a five-year period up to 2022. The four development priorities christened as the Big Four Agenda are Food Security, Manufacturing, Universal Healthcare and Affordable Housing especially for the Urban Poor.
Our Client is a government department that intends to play a key role in the implementation of the Big Four Agenda through direct interventions in the priority areas as well as leveraging its mandate to facilitate and enable state and non-state actors to achieve these priorities. To position themselves for this critical role, Our Client is currently prioritizing and streamlining their activities and programs in the following areas:

• Manufacturing: Commercially produce cotton to contribute towards increased local production for garment and other forms of cotton-based manufacturing and expand capacity in textile and apparels production.
• Food Security and Nutrition: Invest in large-scale farming of such crops as Rice, Maize, Sugarcane, Grapes etc. This will contribute towards eliminating the existing national production deficits for these crops and increase food security and nutrition.
• Solid Waste Management and Recycling: Explore solid waste management and recycling through a partnership with select County Governments in waste management and recycling.
• Renewable Energy: Contribute to harvesting solar energy to supplement the national grid through development of a solar power park through Public Private Partnership arrangements.

To support the above programs, Our Client wishes to recruit a Renewable Energy Expert

Roles & Responsibilities

Renewable Energy Expert - Solar will lead the development of a solar power plant to be located within the ASAL regions of the country. They will spearhead the design and execution of processes to streamline the solar energy project development and ensure that it will have a positive outcome on investment, increase renewable energy production and contribute towards low carbon emissions and diversification of energy sources.

Requirements

Key responsibilities:

• Conduct engineering site audits to collect structural, electrical, and related site information for use in the design of commercial solar power systems.
• Prepare procurement specifications and recommend engineering and infrastructural input and equipment to achieve the objectives of the envisioned solar power plant.
• Provide technical direction and support to installation teams during installation, start-up, testing, system commissioning, and performance monitoring of the solar power plant.
• Prepare and roll out plans for capacity and performance monitoring and evaluation in the solar energy plant.
• Develop and be responsible for the implementation of and adherence to standard operation procedures, quality and safety standards for the plant installation and production phases.
• Monitor and advice the program on new technologies/ plant operations, verification of system performance, and developing performance indicators.

Key qualifications and experience:

• Master’s Degree in a field related to renewable energy, engineering, environment, or related disciplines from a recognized university.
• Minimum of 10 years of professional work experience in one or more of the areas of energy, renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy capacity development and climate change policy and preparedness.
• Professional certification in related renewable energy courses is highly desirable.
• Experience in leadership roles with progressively responsibility for design, implementation and evaluation of similar solar/renewable energy projects.
• Experience preparing reports and data analysis to support management decisions.
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills, including demonstrated advanced ICT skills.
• Demonstrable practical knowledge of the renewable energy industry.
• Demonstrated experience in Public Private Partnership projects.