Background
UNDP Mozambique has been supporting the Government of Mozambique through the Ministry of Science and Technology to implement the national strategy for Millennium Villages together with the UN agencies since January 2007 and under the UN Joint Programme. The Mozambique’s Millennium Village Programme has set objectives of “eliminating hunger and malnutrition” and “improving livelihoods and increasing their incomes beyond extreme poverty levels,” and strengthening agriculture sector is considered a key to increase production and vitalize local economy. Under the Programme, the Government of Mozambique and the UN agencies have established a Millennium Village Project (“MV Project”) office in the Ministry of Science and Technology to implement the Project.
The MV project office has an interest in piloting solar PV systems for irrigation which is expected to increase agricultural production and productivity and thus help improve livelihood of local communities. The Project is also planning to expand the solar PV systems to other villages. Having a potential corporate partner, the Project decided to carry out a feasibility study to provide the first solar PV system to the village on a pilot basis.
To start the pilot project, it is necessary for the MV Project to understand the feasibility of solar PV installations for agriculture at the pilot farm adjacent to the river flow in Chibuto. It is especially important to identify and fit the solar PV installations to the local conditions as well as accelerate other activities to increase agricultural production and productivity.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Applicability of solar PV system to agricultural irrigation
- Technical specifications of solar PV system and water distribution
- Seasonality of suitable usage of solar PV system
- Economics of solar PV system
- Optimization of the delivery and installation schedule for solar PV system and the association equipment
- Acomprehensive feasibility study report (“F/S report”)that contains all necessary information to introduce a solar PV system to the Project in Chibuto including all the information as described above.
- The final F/S report should be comprised of three parts; (1) solar PV installations, (2) agriculture and community development and (3) water and irrigation. The International Consultant is responsible for the solar PV installations part as well as overall editing and consistency of the F/S report.
Competencies
- Ability to: research and analyze potential application of solar PV installations and provide leadership for completion of feasibility studies in this field;
- Provide technical advice in the area of specialization;
- Conduct research in the specialized technical field;
- Prepare reports and publications of a high quality;
- Provide assistance to UNDP in the subsequent project formulation;
- Establish and maintain good working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- University or advanced degree in engineering.
Experience:
- At least five (5) years of professional experience in researching, designing or utilizing solar PV system for development purposes, ideally irrigation. Exposure to the Africa’s development context is preferable.
- Familiarity with development issues as well as the solar PV system design, management, monitoring and evaluation method; and computer literacy in standard software application.
- Practical knowledge of solar PV technology and installations.
Language requirements:
- Fluency in both written and spoken English.
- Knowledge of Portuguese will be an asset