UNDP Jobs - 109600- Consultant for Advancing Energy Equity through Ene

Consultant for Advancing Energy Equity through Energy Communities

Location :

Homebased and Podgorica, Montenegro, MONTENEGRO

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

25-Oct-2022

Application Deadline :

21-Oct-22 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

25 October 2022 - 25 December 2022

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

40 consultancy days

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The climate change poses serious, wide-ranging risks to economies, societies and ecosystems. Reducing these risks requires action to sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions (mitigation), combined with measures to increase resilience to the impacts that occur (adaptation). Through the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), opportunities have been created to ensure a more sustainable, equitable and prosperous future for all.

In many countries, Montenegro included, UNDP has an important role in working towards this future.
Working in partnership with the Government of Montenegro and with support from PFD/RMF projects supported by Slovak partnership and the Green Climate Fund, Montenegro is now implementing two projects: “Enhancing Montenegro’s Capacity to Integrate Climate Change Risks into Planning” and “Supporting Solar Development in Montenegro”.

The specific intent of this Terms of Reference is to explore opportunities and investigate if local supply of solar energy can contribute to sustainable adaptation to climate variability and change, by examining the case of establishing Energy Communities in Montenegro. Sustainable adaptation is here understood as a process which involves leading a society on a development pathway that is socially and environmentally sustainable. Reducing vulnerability, caused by contextual conditions and multiple stressors, is an essential element of sustainable adaptation. In this case specific focus will be on examining necessary preconditions to be met for establishment of functional Energy Communities formed by owners of solar installations.

The spike in energy costs makes Montenegro households looking to clean energy solutions, including solar power, to deliver cost savings. Historically, the benefits of solar power have not been accessible to all — with rooftop solar being out of reach for many low-income households. But community solar projects can help low-income and disadvantaged communities reap the benefits of clean energy.

Project Solar 3000+ has promised to accelerate solar deployment and advance variety of solar projects, including projects connected to low-income communities and community solar projects that provide economic benefits to low-income residents.

Community solar projects can offer financial advantages and flexibility that make it an accessible and cost-saving offering for low-income households and disadvantaged communities. Community solar projects can also help build community wealth, mitigate environmental harms, and strengthen resilience.

To have all benefits available it is necessary to initiate work to ensure that creation of Energy Communities is possible and that community solar benefits are reaching disadvantaged and historically marginalized communities and initiatives that will drive the equitable distribution of the benefits of clean energy investments and to ensure the benefits of community solar flow to all segments of society.

Within this context, the project is inviting eligible candidates with relevant experience in mainstreaming climate change issues into energy sector, drafting and preparing cost-benefit analysis, identifying and consideration of the barriers that prevent private sector stakeholders from engaging in low-emission and climate-resilient development, facilitating consultation processes related to drafting and preparing strategic documents in the area of energy and climate change and/or sustainable development. The assignment focuses on identification of barrier that private sector is facing to engage in low-emission and climate-resilient development of solar communities, assess legal and regulatory barriers and propose relevant amendments, and all this resulting in the development of the road map for introducing the concept of Energy Communities into legislation.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective of the assignment:

The overall objective of this set of activities is to map all legal and regulatory limitations for establishment of solar Energy communities in Montenegro. The consultancy will result in legal constrains mapped, recommendations for improvement and amendments formulated, road map for adoption proposed.

The overall objective of the assignment is to develop road map for legislative and regulatory changes needed for facilitating establishment of solar Energy community in Montenegro. Report circulated with relevant stakeholders and published online.

A secondary objective is to share information regarding EU directive regulating the matter, share experiences in establishment of solar energy community to increase capacity of local solar installation owners in information exchange, joint work.

The lead international expert will have overall responsibility to guide the process, direct the work of local team in a manner to obtain needed inputs and formulate expected deliverables.

Specific tasks are:

The process will highlight how the forthcoming energy transition could be strengthened in alignment with good practices, therefore consists of three steps namely:

Identify and consider the barriers that prevent private sector stakeholders from engaging in low-emission and climate-resilient development of solar communities. This activity will formulate and draft a report detailing legal and other regulatory (technical, local level regulations etc) restrictions for Energy Community establishment,
Based on the gaps, the report is to propose clear legal amendments that would facilitate creation of Energy Communities in Montenegro,
Development of the road map for introducing the concept of Energy Communities into legislation

Expected Deliverables of the assignment:

Task/Milestone	Deliverable/Outcome	Planned Completion date
Inception phase and initial research	Initial meetings implemented	Second half of October 2022
Phase I: Develop an Inception Report detailing understanding of TOR, methodology and work plan.	Inception Report detailing methodology to be used. Action Plan with clear activities and deliverables and timelines, including clear distinction and tasks division between national and international experts.	First half of November 2022
Phase II: Conduct a desk review and a comprehensive analysis of the sectoral programmes, results matrix, programme interventions, legal context and technical regulation. Conduct key informant interviews to understand their need gaps limitations and opportunities for future partnerships including discussions to map related activities, opportunities for an integrated approach and have an in-depth discussion on the areas selected for the analysis	Report summarizing relevant international best practices to promote the incorporation of these into the Montenegro context Report summarizing key informant interviews to understand their need gaps limitations and opportunities for future partnerships Develop and present how gender consideration will be integrated in the final document	Mid- November 2022
Phase III: - Development of the road map for introducing the concept of Energy Communities into legislation	Draft and present the structure, content of the document	End of December 2022
The actual starting date may impact the dates estimated in the TOR, a detailed workplan with exact timeframes and actual delivery dates will be jointly agreed upon between the consultant/ individual contractor and the supervisor upon contract signature.

Time duration: the assignment should be implemented during the period of 25 October 2022 – 25 December 2022, with 40 working days and at least two in country visit.

Competencies

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UN/UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting;
Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills;
Demonstrates ability to manage complexities and work under pressure, as well as conflict resolution skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree in a relevant field would be considered as an advantage;

Experience:

At least 7 years professional experience with mainstreaming energy and climate change issues into sectoral policies, legislation, previous experience in capacity building and design of strategic documents.
Demonstrated experience in working with government partners and other stakeholders,
Experience with the usage of various systems analysis methods and techniques would be considered as advantage.

Language:

Knowledge of Montenegrin language would be considered as asset;
Demonstrated knowledge of English language adequate for preparation of strategic documents and sharing with international entities.

Other:

Excellent social, communication skills and writing skills;

Criteria for selection:

Combined Scoring method will be used. When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as: (i) responsive, compliant, acceptable, and (ii) having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical criteria weight - 70% (Background and education 10%; Relevant previous experience 20%; Substantial knowledge/Required competencies 30%; Required language 10%);
Financial criteria weight - 30%.

Only offerors obtaining a minimum 490 points for technical criteria will be considered for the financial evaluation. For more information on procurement methodology for Individual Contractors, please refer to Procurement Notice.

Application procedure:

Interested applicants are requested to submit their applications by October 18, 2022 by using the Apply now button. The application should contain CV or P11 that can be downloaded at https://www.me.undp.org/content/montenegro/en/home/jobs.html. Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file.

Only the short-listed applicants will be contacted and requested to submit a letter of interest including a price quotation indicating the lump sum (in EUR) requested for the work envisaged in the section "Description of Responsibilities".