UNDP Jobs - 93949- International Consultant for the Development of en

International Consultant for the Development of end-of-life solutions for solar photovoltaics and wind power systems in Viet Nam

Location :

Home-based and Ha Noi, VIET NAM

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Oct-2020

Application Deadline :

20-Sep-20 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

10 months

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

October 2020 - July 2021

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

Viet Nam is among the fastest growing economies in the world, but its economic growth is characterized by a high energy and carbon intensity. Viet Nam’s GHG emissions are projected to increase threefold by 2030 compared to 2010 level and hence, the Government of Viet Nam has encouraged climate change mitigation alongside economic growth. The Government of Viet Nam ratified the Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change and also adopted the Plan for Implementation of the Paris Agreement. The updated NDC was approved by the Government of Viet Nam in July 2020 with the greenhouse gas emission reduction target of 9 percent unconditionally and up to 27 percent with international support to be achieved by year 2030 compared to the business as usual.

The climate change mitigation strategy of the Government of Viet Nam has a strong emphasis on the development of renewable energy resources, especially solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind-based power (WP) generation. Resolution 55 by the Central Committee of the Party on “Orientations for the Viet Nam National Energy Development Strategy to 2030 and Outlook to 2045 (“Resolution 55” of the Politburo) envisages renewable energy accounting for 15-20% of the primary energy in 2030 and 25-30% in 2045. The National Energy Development Master Plan for the period 2021-2030 with a vision to 2050 and the new Master Plan for Power Development for 2021-2030 (PDP8) with the vision to 2045 also anticipates a strong contribution from renewable energy sources.

Viet Nam has a high potential for both solar and wind-based power. Only a small fraction of this has been developed so far, but there has been a sharp increase in 2019, with 4.5 GW of solar and 0.45 GW of wind in operation by the end of June 2019. The solar PV potential is estimated at around 380 GW (economic potential) mostly concentrated in the south, south central, and highlands regions. The total potential of onshore wind power is estimated at 217 GW (technical potential), mainly concentrated in the south, highlands, and south-central regions. While decision makers have started addressing various challenges for further market development for both solar PV and wind power, including expansion of the transmission and distribution network, the management of the waste generated by these technologies has received very little attention in Viet Nam. Experts forecast thousands of tons of solar modules, wind turbine blades, and other components will need to be refurbished, reused, recycled or safely disposed, in the next few decades. A lot of effort goes into making many of these equipment’s and their sub-components such as turbine blade composites, and high-purity photovoltaic silicon. Manufacturers also face spiking costs and supply constraints for the raw materials needed for the manufacturing of PV panels and wind generator components.

Some compounds—including silver, aluminum, indium, gallium, and tellurium used in PV modules—might have a high value for recycling and recovery, while other compounds such as cadmium and selenium are considered to be hazardous. Hence it is important to refurbish, reuse or recycle as much as possible and reduce the quantity of hazardous waste or that which needs to be sent to landfills. However, disassembling or recovering materials from discarded devices is also a challenge which in some cases requires dedicated technologies and infrastructures. However, a limited number of these equipment’s have reached their end of life to make investments worthwhile in installing or upgrading facilities such as that for recycling.

The Government of Viet Nam adopted the amended National Strategy of Integrated Solid Waste Management up to 2025, vision towards 2050 (491/QD-TTg Decision). The Strategy has made clear the integrated approach of solid waste management by which the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) should be strengthened while landfilling should be limited. The Government also has a plan to review and assess suitable models for circular economy proposed for the next 10-year Socio-economic Development Strategy (SEDS) 2021-2030 and 5-year Socio-economic Development Plan (SEDP) 2021-2025. However, the equipment for the generation of electric power (not only wind generators and PV plants, but also conventional plants) in Vietnam have not been included in the circular economy approach, as no standards or requirement for the end of life management of these equipment has been considered in Vietnam.

UNDP is recruiting an international consultant and a national institution/firm to team up for an assignment to support the Government of Viet Nam in identifying end of life solutions that could be applied to the solar PV and wind power industry in Viet Nam.

Duties and Responsibilities

The international consultant will be responsible for leading the assignment, maintaining the quality of the deliverables, guide and monitor the work of the NC and ensure that the materials are delivered before the due date.

Develop an inception report on the assignment explaining the scope of work, the methodology, the report structure and the work plan and Conduct online consultations with the relevant agencies including, Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT), Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), Ministry of Construction (MOC), Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and other key stakeholders and based on feedbacks, finalize the inception report.
As far as Wind generation plants are concerned:

With reference to waste generated from wind power systems or equivalent waste streams, identify and evaluate existing solid waste management including recycling approaches, good practices and costs of waste management, etc. being applied globally. The review shall focus on countries where the market of WP system is already mature/ consolidated since than 20 years with a substantial fraction of the installation reaching its end of life and are now facing the issue of dismantling and recycling of WP equipment. Recommended countries for this analysis would be Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Germany, the Netherland, USA, China. The analysis will include the following but may not be limited to:

Assess the of current status of flow of materials and equipment which have reached their end of life.
For each of category of materials generated, assess existing physical infrastructure/ established systems and policy frameworks for waste management, disposal, reuse, recycling and re-processing end-of-life waste and equipment
Review the best practices, challenges and cost of identified end-of-life solutions

With the objective to assess the existing installed capacity of wind farm in Viet Nam and project the expected installed capacity till 2030 with the vision up to 2045,
1. Design an inventory of the Wind Turbine farms in Vietnam including year of installation, capacity of the entire farm and of the turbines, brand of the turbines and technology adopted,
2. Support the national firm/institution the implementation of the inventory;
3. Integrate the inventory of the existing Wind Turbine farms with information concerning new installation expected in the short/mid-term in Vietnam.

Based on the inventory result, estimate the flow of materials and equipment which will reach their end of life by year, including:
1. Foundation (concrete, steel);
2. Towers (steel);
3. Housing of the nacelle (Steel, Glass Reinforced Plastics)
4. Gear boxes (Iron)
5. Generators (Steel, Iron, Copper, rare earth metals)
6. Hub (Cast Iron, Glass Reinforced Plastic)
7. Rotor and blades (Glass Reinforced Plastic, Carbon Reinforced Plastic, etc.)
8. Electronic components (plastic, copper, gold, aluminum, several metals)
9. Cables (plastic, copper)

For each category of materials generated, assess the possible disposal and recycling options taking account the material processing facilities existing in Vietnam, (for Iron, Steel and nonferrous metal components) and the waste management options for non-recyclable or hard to be recycled components (blades) as well as the classification of waste as hazardous or non hazardous.

The following end of life management options should be discussed.
1. Re-use of components or entire systems with forecast of associated cost;
2. Recycling, recovery and disposal with forecast of associated cost:
  1. Export or domestic recycling of metal including steel;
  2. Blade materials (incineration, co-incineration, mechanical grinding, mixing with concrete, landfilling)
3. Electronic waste disposal with forecast of associated cost: export or process in existing facilities in Vietnam.

Collect international experiences in operating offshore wind power projects focusing on offshore turbine and construction technologies; safety issues for navigation and the offshore ecosystem, etc.

As far as Photo Voltaic panels are concerned

The management of the end of life of the two main PV cell technologies will have to consider mainly the crystalline silicon (c-Si), which is the dominant cell technology of existing and currently sold modules; compound PV technology, which includes thin film modules like cadmium-telluride (CdTe) and copper-indium-gallium-selenium (CIGS) will be considered only if relevant to Vietnam and in the perspective of increase of its use.

Similar to the Wind generation, the IC will undertake the following tasks:

With reference to waste generated from solar PV or equivalent waste streams, identify and evaluate existing solid waste management including recycling approaches, good practices and costs of waste management being applied globally. This shall focus on countries where the market of PV system is already mature/ consolidated since than 20 years with a substantial fraction of the installation reaching its end of life and are now facing the issue of dismantling and recycling of PV equipment. Recommended countries for this analysis would be at least Italy, Germany or other EU countries, China, United States. The analysis shall include but may not be limited to

Assess the of current status of flow of materials and equipment which have reached their end of life
For each of category of materials generated, assess existing physical infrastructure/ established systems and policy frameworks for waste management, disposal, reuse, recycling and re-processing end-of-life waste and equipment

Review the best practices, challenges and cost of identified end-of-life solutions. With the objective to assess the existing installed capacity of PV generation in Viet Nam and project the expected installed capacity till 2030 with a vision up to 2045,
1. Design an inventory of PV installation in Vietnam
2. Support the national firm/institution in the implementation of the inventory;
3. Integrate the inventory of the existing PV generation plants with information concerning new installation expected in the short/mid term in Vietnam.
Based on the inventory result, estimate the flow of materials and equipment which will reach their end of life by year, including:
1. PV panels by category, and their content in term of:
  1. Glass
  2. Plastic
  3. Aluminum frame
  4. Silicon
  5. Metals
  6. Rare earth Metals
2. Inverters;
3. Frames and stands
4. Cables
For each category of materials generated, assess the possible disposal and recycling options taking account the material processing facilities existing in Vietnam and the following:
1. The recycling process of silicon-based PV panels starts with disassembling the actual product to separate aluminum and glass parts. Almost all (95%) of the glass can be reused, while all external metal parts are used for re-molding cell frames. The remaining material are usually treated in thermal processes which allows for the recovery of the silicon wafers which may be recycled into new silicon modules.
2. The recycling process of thin film PV panels entails usually shredding, grinding, separation of the liquid from the solid materials, purification of the liquid with recovery of semiconductors, and recovery of glass with removal of the interlayer materials.
The following end of life management options should be discussed.
1. Re-use of components or entire systems with forecast of associated cost;
2. Recycling, recovery and disposal with forecast of associated cost;
3. Electronic waste disposal with forecast of associated cost: export or process in existing facilities in Viet Nam.

On the basis of the analysis conducted above, the IC will develop:

A draft interim report containing both international analysis and national assessment with details as presented in the above scope of work. The report shall cover two separate parts for each PV and WP systems.
Based on the interim report, prepare a final report that include but may not be limited to the following suggested elements:
1. Recommendations for the management of waste generated from solar PV and wind power industry in Viet Nam, based on the international level analysis and national level assessments of the waste from solar PV and wind power systems.
2. Proposed viable end of life solutions including circular economy approaches that can be implemented in the solar PV and wind power industry supply chain in Viet Nam at each stage of the product life cycle such as in design, product use and end of life stages, including appropriate material re-processing and waste management practices. Assess positive and negative impacts of the proposed approaches and how the risks could be managed
3. How to strengthen the enabling environment to facilitate the changes, such as changes needed to policies and regulations, capacity building needs, strengthening of institutional framework, establishment of network for the recycling and re-processing of materials, how public and private finance and public procurement can be leveraged, strengthening monitoring and evaluation systems etc.
4. Specific next steps that need to be taken by the industry as a whole, and by key stakeholders, such as the Government/ decision makers, business and investors

3.1.5. Present the findings of the draft report and final report to key stakeholders through an online or face-to-face meeting.

Competencies

The selection will be based on a competitive basis and will comply with UNDP procurement regulations. Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information (in English, PDF Format):

Detailed curriculum vitae with copies of required certifications;
Signed Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability (Annex IV)
Signed Financial Offer (Annex V)
Two (02) sample reports for track record of good quality analytical report writing, and/or academic publications in English

Procurement Notice with enclosed TOR and evaluation criteria as well as Submission forms are in the attached files and uploaded on:

https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=69981

Submissions should be sent by email to: luu.ngoc.diep@undp.org no later than the submission deadline. After submitting proposal, bidder should send notification by email (without attachment) to: procurement.vn@undp.org informing that the bidder has submitted proposal. UNDP will not be responsible for the missing of proposal if the bidder does not send notification email to above address.

Required Skills and Experience

Master’s degree or higher qualification in chemistry, biology, environmental studies/environmental science/environmental engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, energy technology/management, business management, economics or related fields
At least 10 years of working experience in the design/ operation/ maintenance/ management/ consulting in waste management/ circular economy/ cleaner production
Work experience in renewable energy sector (solar and wind) and knowledge and experience of waste management in the renewable energy systems is preferred
Experience in policy research and evidence-based analyses on waste management/circular economy/cleaner production
Experience in working in developing countries for donor supported projects in relevant fields
Track record of good quality analytical report writing, and/or academic publications in English