Energy Modelling Expert – Cities and Infrastructure for Growth Zambia (CIGZambia)
Job Description
Cities and Infrastructure for Growth Zambia
Project: E014.6 IRP Institutionalisation and Financing
Description of Task: IRP implementation
Position Title: Energy Modelling Expert
Term of Engagement: one year (possible extension)
Level of Effort: 220 days
About Cities and Infrastructure for Growth Zambia (CIGZambia)
CIGZambia is a facility programme that provides high-quality independent technical advice and assistance to Zambian government bodies and private sector organisations engaged in projects / activities that help harness the potential of Zambia’s cities and towns to act as drivers for economic growth and job creation. CIGZambia is funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
The overall programme objectives are to:
- increase urban productivity
- improve inclusive access to urban economic infrastructure services
- increase investment into urban economic infrastructure services
- enhance national and regional integration between cities
Current activities underway are focused on transformational support to Zambia’s energy sector.
Role Overview:
The consultant will play a key role in developing of the implementation plan for the Integrated Resource Plan for the electricity sector (IRP) as well as development and institutionalisation of the Energy Planning System for the Ministry of Energy. The IRP is a 30-year plan for a sustainable electricity investment in generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure that will ensure universal access to clean, reliable and affordable electricity at the lowest total environmental, social, economic and financial cost consistent with local, national and regional development goals. The IRP includes implications arising from demand-side management (DSM), financing and pricing and will assist in creating the optimum balance between on-grid and off-grid investment in power infrastructure to meet the electrification needs of the population.
At the time of recruitment for this role, support from CIGZambia to the Ministry of Energy and ZESCO to institutionalise the IRP has been ongoing for around 7 months, including development of models for longer term energy system planning. It is anticipated that MoE will establish a Centre for Sustainable Energy Modelling (CSEM), within which there will be capacity to develop and run models of the energy system. In the meantime, prior to the establishment of the CSEM, CIGZambia and sister programmes (e.g. CCG – Climate Compatible Growth) are providing advisory support to government energy sector institutions including developing and running models. These efforts use Antares linear models for transmission/generation optimisation, PowerFactory dynamic modelling for transmission/generation feasibility and OSeMOSYS models for broader energy system modelling.
Reporting to: IRP Project Lead
Responsibilities:
- Responsibility 1:
Support development of the Energy Planning System for the Electricity sector. Tasks include:
o Take ownership/authorship of planning models in Antares and continue to develop these as needed to provide inputs to energy planning.
o Take ownership/authorship of planning models in PowerFactory and continue to develop these as needed; establish connections between Antares and PowerFactory models.
o Link OSeMOSYS (an open-source modelling system for long-run integrated assessment and energy planning) and Antares and run simulations to illustrate the key attributes and benefits running the two pieces of software complementing each other - Responsibility 2:
Capacity building (training, skills development) for energy planning institutions in generation planning using Antares. Tasks include:
o Develop a generation planning capacity building plan, based around Antares as a tool
o Support institutional capacity building for energy system planning (software and hardware requirements) - Responsibility 3:
Collection and curation of data that will be needed for the next iteration of the IRP:
o This should include, as a minimum, the latest available demand data, generation data, transmission and distribution data - Responsibility 4:
Controlling resources from software providers. Tasks include:
o Developing licensing plans for CIGZambia and Government of Zambia institutions
o Interacting and negotiating with modelling software providers
o Carefully controlling limited resource budgets for technical support and training from software providers (negotiated as part of licensing agreements)
Skills and experience
- Advanced degree in energy systems, engineering, economics, or a related field.
- Professional experience working with Antares, including end to end model development
- Professional experience working with PowerFactory (desirable)
- Professional experience working with OSeMOSYS (desirable)
- Scripting and/or coding capabilities in relevant languages
- Deep understanding of electricity generation, transmission, and distribution systems.
- Experience as a trainer, including development of plans and training materials
- Analytical mindset with the ability to identify gaps and provide actionable solutions.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills for reporting and presenting findings.
Please note that we cannot consider applications from staff of CIGZambia client organisations, i.e. Zambia’s Ministry of Energy and publicly owned energy sector enterprises including ZESCO Ltd., as this would undermine responsibility 2 (capacity building).
Key Deliverables:
Description
D1 Compiled and curated training materials for Antares, PowerFactory and OSeMOSYS
D2 Recommendations for energy system planning in Zambia including software and hardware requirements
D3 Up to date models of the Zambia power system built in Antares, PowerFactory and OSeMOSYS
Applications:
Please send your CV and Cover Letter to admin@cigzambia.org. For application to be considered, subject line in the email must be completed as follows: Energy Modelling Expert – Candidate Last Name, First Name.
Deadline for Applications: February 3, 2025
