County Renewable Energy Officers at Ministry of Energy and Petroleum

The Kenya Off-grid solar access project for underserved counties (K-OSAP), financed by the World Bank and implemented by the Ministry of Energy including Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) and Rural Electrification Authority (REA), aims to provide a comprehensive suite of investments to provide electricity services to households, enterprises and community facilities, boreholes, with pragmatic business models to attract private sector investment, sustainable services, know-how and efficiencies.

The Project will support the following components that are each aimed at:

• Electrification of households, public facilities and businesses through mini-grid systems;
• Electrification of households through standalone solar systems and provision of clean cooking stove solutions for households;
• Electrification of community facilities through standalone solar systems and Solar Water pumps for communities;
• Technical Assistance, including institutional development, capacity building and project implementation support.

The project has Four (4) components as follows:

Component 1: Mini-grids for Community Facilities, Enterprises, and Households to be implemented by KPLC and REA: This component finances procurement of construction, operation and maintenance of mini-grids. Nearly 120 mini grids will be implemented in the 14 underserved counties, in lots of 100-700 prospective users, with approximate total demand of 20-300kW. This component will have six (6) contract packages for Supply and Installation, and 7 to 12 years O&M of mini-grids, with possible renewal of O&M contract period by the client.

Component 2: Standalone Solar Systems, and Clean Cooking Solutions for Households to be Implemented by Ministry of Energy and Petroleum through debt facility as a financial intermediary (FI) and a grant facility as a management contract. This component has two sub components: Sub Component 2A – Standalone Solar Systems for households and Sub Component 2B – Clean Cooking Solutions for Households;

Component 3: Standalone Solar Systems and Solar Water Pumps for Community Facilities to be implemented by KPLC and REA: This component has two sub components: Sub-component 3A- Standalone Solar Systems for Community Facilities and Sub-component 3B- Solar Water Pumps for Community Facilities.

Component 4: Implementation Support and Capacity Building: This component has two sub components: Sub-Component 4.1- Consumer Education and Awareness and Sub-component 4.2 – Implementation Support and Capacity Building.

The Project Implementing Agency, the MoEP, has established a Project Coordination Unit (PCU) to focus and fully manage the day to day operation of the project. The PCU is to be staffed with highly experienced key technical experts who will handle and manage the project implementation. As the project involves a range of renewable energy activities in the counties, the MoEP is desirous to recruit one Renewable Energy Officer for each of the fourteen (14) target Counties to support the Project implementation.

Responsibilities for the County Renewable Energy Officers Job

The assignment will cover all the KOSAP project activities implemented in each of the target Counties and within the duties and responsibilities as stipulated below:

• Project liaison person for the KOSAP project during the project implementation period. The officer will work under the guidance of the Project Coordinator and the county executive responsible for energy and will be responsible for organizing the county working group meetings.
• Defining, in consultation with the County Working group and the Project Coordinator, the project areas based on technical and policy development priorities;
• Resolving, in consultation with the County Working group and the Project Coordinator, challenges requiring high level intervention facing the project;
• Monitoring the implementation of the Project in consultation with the County Working group and the Project Coordinator,
• Verifying quality, quantity and specifications of PV equipment, components and systems delivered to the county before installation of the same commences
• Witnessing the testing and commissioning and of systems implemented in the county under the project
• Supervising construction, monitoring and reporting on the adherence to the project construction schedules and milestones
• Monitoring and verifying operation and maintenance activities including supply and utilization of spare parts
• Consolidating information on progress of implementation and evaluating the Project.
• Promote the development, production, conservation and utilization of renewable energy resources;
• Monitoring, supervision and evaluation of renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation projects;
• Coordinate research, collect data, maintain and update records in renewable energy in the counties.
• Promote the development of local capacity for the manufacture, installation, dissemination, maintenance and operation of renewable technologies.
• Development and promotion of renewable energy off-grid systems.
• Coordinate outreach and knowledge management on renewable energy technologies.
• Promotion of Private Sector participation in development of renewable energy initiatives; and
• Any other duties assigned by the Project Coordinator.

 Assignment Location

The County Renewable Energy Officers will be deployed to a selected participating County. In addition, the officers can be called upon to undertake any other duties as determined by the KOSAP Project Coordinator, including attending more program-wide meetings.

Time Frame and Reporting

The expected duration of this post is one year renewable. The assignment is expected to commence in April, 2018. The officers will report to the K-OSAP Coordinator at the Ministry of Energy.

The County Renewable Energy Officer will be required to submit reports as follows:

Job Qualifications

The following are the recognised qualifications for the purpose of this Post:-

• Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Technology Degree in Mechanical//Electrical/Energy/Renewable Energy Engineering OR Bachelor of Science Degree in any of the following disciplines: Renewable Energy, Physics/Physical Sciences, Forestry, Environmental Sciences or equivalent qualifications from a recognised University.
• Possession of a Master’s Degree in any of the above disciplines will be an added advantage;
• Experience in the field of renewable energy projects development and implementation for a period of not less than 5 years;
• Specialized training and experience in solar PV systems engineering and marketing including design, installation, testing, commissioning and operation and maintenance for at least 2 years
• Experience in low voltage power distribution will be an added advantage
• Registration by Professional bodies and possession of a current practicing licence will be an added advantage.
• Strong communication (written and oral) and team leadership and interpersonal skills, computer literacy and problem solving skills will be added advantage.

Selection Method:

The officers’ recruitment will follow the GoK and World Bank’s Procurement Regulations for Investment Projects Financing (IPF) Borrowers for Individual Consultants.

Terms of Service and Remuneration

• The appointment to all the above positions will be on a contract basis for one (1) year initially with a possibility of contract extension subject to satisfactory performance.
• The successful candidates for the positions will be offered competitive remuneration package after negotiations.
• Applicants who are residents in the County for the post for which they are applying will have a distinct advantage