UNIDO in partnership with the General Directorate for Natural Resources and Energy (DGRNE) of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Natural Resources (MIRNA, former MOPIRNA) and the National Designated Authority (NDA) at the Ministry of Planning, Finance and Blue Economy (MPFEA) are implementing the GCF readiness project “Building institutional capacity for a renewable energy and energy efficiency investment programme for São Tomé and Principe”. It is being executed in close coordination with the ongoing GEF funded UNIDO project “Strategic program to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency investments in the electricity sector of São Tomé and Príncipe”. It is also linked with the regional activities of the Central African Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (CEREEAC), which was recently established by UNIDO and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) in Angola, Luanda.
The project contributes to the nation’s Vision 2030 “São Tomé e Príncipe 2030: the country we need to build", which aims to transform the country into a climate-resilient and vibrant island hub for blue economy business, financial services and tourism, benefitting from the growing regional market of the ECCAS. The success of the vision highly depends on a power sector reform and a transformational shift of the entire energy system from a nearly complete fossil fuel import dependency to renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Therefore, the GCF project aims to strengthen the capacities of the Government of Sao Tome and Principe (STP) to formulate and implement a paradigm-shift renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE) investment program, which will enable the country to achieve its climate mitigation targets in the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and the 3rd National Communication on Climate Change (NCCC). Through RE&EE improvements, the country aims to reduce its GHG emissions significantly in comparison to the reference scenario 2012-2030.
The GCF project addresses demand and supply-side barriers that hinder the market introduction of new sustainable energy technology products, services and business models in STP. It includes support for RE&EE policy and regulation, knowledge management, capacity building, as well as investment and business facilitation. The focus regarding renewables lies on specific regulations and practical documents/procedures, which aim to reduce risks for private participation (e.g. IPPs, PPPs, auto-producers, mini-grids) and project finance (equity, concessional and non-concessional finance), particularly in the area solar photovoltaics (PV) and run-off-river micro/small hydropower. The activities in the energy efficiency sector focus particularly on modalities to reduce non-technical grid losses, energy efficiency standards for appliances and transport, as well as efficient cooking.
To learn more about UNIDO go to www.unido.org, to learn more about the project ‘’Building institutional capacity for a renewable energy and energy efficiency investment programme for São Tomé and Príncipe” visit the link: https://open.unido.org/projects/ST/projects/200158.
As analysed during the design phase of the GCF Readiness intervention, the lack of skills of a broad range of public and private key stakeholders related to the planning, financing, implementation and management of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects and interventions is a major hindering factor for climate mitigation in the energy sector. This is particularly true for the main public institutional players of the energy system (e.g. DGRNE, EMAE, AGER, DGAAC, NDA, RAP).
Capacity building needs are also highlighted in the National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP) and the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (NEEAP) that state the need for capacity building of technical and professional cadres (including the support and coordination of local and foreign universities), information dissemination and awareness raising.
Therefore, UNIDO is seeking support of a contractor or consortium to conduct a series of on-site trainings on key aspects required for a successful management of the energy transition towards renewables and efficiency. The trainings will focus on professionals with strong ties to national public institutions. Regularly received proposals from private sector and the need for a coherent enabling policy and regulatory frameworks to incentivise investments in grid-connected and distributed renewable energy systems and the enforcement of energy efficiency standards, require a good understanding of a broad range of issues.
The training will be complementary to the already conducted or ongoing UNIDO capacity-building activities on solar photovoltaics (PV), small hydropower, clean cooking, solar thermal, efficiency standards for electric appliances and the transport fuel economy. The UNIDO project also facilitated the development of an online training program on sustainable energy solutions for islands, which is available free of charge in Portuguese: https://training.gn-sec.net. As much as possible, synergies to the envisaged training activities of the new Central African Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (CEREEAC), jointly established by ECCAS and UNIDO in Luanda, Angola, will be created.
In the past, some specific training activities have been conducted in the context of donor-funded projects such as the Solar Schools project implemented by the NGO “TESE” in 2011 with support from DGRNE, the Ministry of Education and the University of Science of Lisbon, that aimed at increasing access to quality education in off-grid rural areas and mini-grids through the installation of PV systems in schools with ongoing adult literacy courses. There is limited technical capacity to design, evaluate, install and operate on-grid and off-grid renewable energy systems (including hybrids and mini-grids). Moreover, there is a lack of experience in public policymaking and the regulation of the renewable energy and energy efficiency sector. The technical capacity and experience of the national utility to manage the large-scale integration of variable renewable energy technologies and to deal with smart grid and storage solutions is limited.
Therefore, UNIDO seeks support from a contractor or a consortium to conduct a series of trainings on topics of high priority for a successful energy transition in São Tomé and Príncipe. Due the local context, trainings need to be prepared and conducted in Portuguese or quality interpretation needs to be provided by the contractor (costs not to be covered by UNIDO). Participants of the training shall be allowed to continue to use the materials after the training. It is assumed that two to three physical training workshops/sessions will be necessary to deliver the indicated five (5) thematic modules below:
Some of the modules might be combined (e.g. module 1 and 2, and module 3 and 4. Other combinations are also accepted) in one training over several days. It is the objective to train in total 150 domestic experts primarily of the main institutional players of the energy sector, as well as the private sector. The project envisages 40% women and 30% youth participation in the trainings. Due to country practice, training workshops shall be undertaken on-site. It is expected, that two or three missions to Sao Tome are required to deliver the five modules. Certain modules can be also combined in one workshop if required. Module 5 would be cross-cutting and will be mainstreamed in all other modules.
For cost-efficiency and due to the limited budget, the contractor shall ideally provide the trainings based on an existing curricula or already available materials. However, the materials shall be made available in Portuguese for free use beyond the trainings by the local counterparts or UNIDO. They shall include examples from Sub-Saharan Africa, small island developing states (SIDS) and beyond, in order to integrate innovations within the priority topics (e.g. considering examples of innovations from EU countries in terms of business models, agriculture and energy nexus, etc.). Ideally, the trainings shall be live-streamed by online-media to increase the participation of STP experts from Principe and the CEREEAC.
The work will require close coordination with the national stakeholders responsible for energy, policy, capacity building, the regulator, as well as the ministerial focal points. The list of direct beneficiaries includes (but is not limited to) DGRNE, the NDA, the Institute of Gender, the National Water and Electricity Company (EMAE), the General Regulatory Authority (AGER), and the Autonomous Region of Principe (RAP), among others. It is assumed that the delivery of the training modules requires at least two or three missions to Sao Tome. More specifically, the foreseen activities and deliverables are further explained in the attachment.
Bidders are requested to submit their proposals by May 17th by registering on the UNIDO e-procurement portal (https://www.unido.org/get-involved-procurement/procurement-opportunities). In case of difficulties, please contact the UNIDO Help Desk at procurement@unido.org.
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