Biomass expert
Post Title: International Consultant
Duration of Assignment: October 20 – December 20 (output-based)
Type of Contract: SSA/RLA
Deadline for application: 16 October, 2008, 5:00 p.m.
Background information
Before 1990, industry accounted for the largest share of Albania’s GDP (about 58%) using the country’s rich chromites and copper deposits that are found in the north-central and northern parts of the country. Albania has also been subject to 25 years of oil and gas exploration in the south-western parts of the country. After the start of the transition period, however, industrial production decreased considerably owing to the closure of the main branches of heavy industry.
By 1999 the share of industrial production in the GDP was only 11.9%. Agriculture has declined to 25% of GDP, industry and construction account for 20% and services have risen to 55%. However, Albania’s cumulative growth reaches an annual average of 6.3%, due to basically successful stabilisation programmes, significant structural transformation and migrants’ remittances.
Presently, Albania is a potential candidate country for the European Union. In June 2006 it signed the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA). A number of commitments have been made by the Government within this context and all the efforts the country is currently undertaking are concentrated to achieve this ultimate goal - the EU accession.
Albania’s priorities to date have focused on the reforms needed to rebuild the economy and to improve general living conditions. Commitments have been made to take accurate account of environmental values in decision making. Despite this, the country faces numerous and in some cases intensifying, environmental problems. Such problems reflect both a historic backlog of environmental neglect as well as new problems associated with recent rapid growth.
Despite the efforts done so far, one of the main problems the country faces is the energy supply. Several studies, like Albania’s National Communication to the UNFCCC (First and the Second ) and the Technology Needs Assessment highlight that climate variability and its extreme events have a significant impact on Albania’s economy and ecosystems, which in turn have impacted Albania’s development. For example, this impact has been shown to be highly significant in the generation of electricity which is currently dominated by hydropower output at over 90% levels. During the period 2000-2002 there was a significant decline in electricity generation estimated at 25% less than multiyear average production due to a prolonged drought.
In June 2003 Albania developed a National Energy Strategy (NES) as an integral part of the National Strategy for Social and Economic Development and is currently putting together a long term investment plan in the energy sector.
Documents like Albania’s First National Communication (FNC) to the UNFCCC, Albania’s Technology Needs Assessment (TNA) Report and Albania’s National Energy Strategy have stimulated the current proposal.
Current situation
Estimates under the FNC show that in Albania, per capita emissions of GHG are relatively low due to the fact that over 90% of electric power is generated by hydro sources. However, emissions per GDP are relatively high. The main source of GHG emissions is the energy sector, which accounts for 65% of the total. Based on the predictions for future emissions, it is expected that by 2020 total GHG emissions will rise from 7,061.45 Gg in 1994 to a level of 37,653 Gg.
A primary objective of the NES is to improve Albania’s energy security position. In relation to the electricity-generating sector, while installed capacity is 1,659MW (2003), and peak load demand is 1,200MW, the country must import significant amounts of electricity in dry years. For instance, in 1991 Albania imported 1.7 TWh from Bulgaria and Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is because over 90% of domestic generating capacity comes from hydropower. No new power plant has been built since 1988 and the electricity demand is increasing at a yearly growth rate of 8.3%. Over 80% of domestic hot water is produced with electricity, and the highest demand for electricity (67% of the total) comes from the household sector especially for space heating and domestic hot water. The National Energy Strategy estimated the demand for electricity to grow from 6.0 TWh in 1999 to 9.6 TWh by 2015. The strategy proposes both demand and supply side responses to the growing disparity between domestic electricity generating and demand. Among the most important objectives which have to be reached through this Strategy are:
1. Restructuring of the Albanian energy sector, based on the principles of market economy and development of a contemporary energy policy for the establishment of an effective institutional and regulatory framework of the public energy companies to the effect of their quick privatisation.
2. Incitement of efficient and economic use of energy and with a minimal effect on the environment, in a way that the energy sector be a supporting sector for the steady development of all the other economic and social sectors.
3. Optimising the system of power supply, relying on the concept of low cost planning and minimal impact on the environment.
4. Boosting security in the supply with power resources through the diversification of the energy system and construction of new generation works and inter-connection lines.
5. Incitement of the use of renewable resources of energy (solar, small power stations, wind, biomass) in order to make possible the maximal use of the local resources.
6. Opening the domestic market of electrical power and active participation in its regional market, in the framework of the Community Energy Treaty of South-Eastern European Countries, this is based on the requirements of the European Union for reforming the electrical power sector (Directive 54/2003 of EU).
In this context, and given Albania’s potential, attention should be given to the renewable energy. For renewable energy to make a significant contribution to economic development, job creation, reduced oil dependence, and lower greenhouse gas emissions, it is necessary to improve the efficiency of technologies, reduce their costs, and develop mature, self-sustaining industries to manufacture, install and maintain renewable energy systems.
UNDP/GEF finances in Albania a project aiming to the market transformation to use solar water heaters. Use of biomass is another option that worth to be investigated. Biomass has many advantages over conventional energy sources, as well as over some other renewable energies, in particular, relatively low costs, less dependence on short-term weather changes, promotion of regional economic structures and provision of alternative sources of income for farmers.
Biomass in the region
UNDP/GEF is currently implementing 12 projects under GEF Operational Programme 6 which focus on the use of biomass from forest, agricultural or sawmill wastes through direct combustion in boilers, gasification or production of liquid biofuels. These projects share many of the same challenges in ensuring the adequacy of the fuel-supply or input flows as well as ensuring the commercial foundations of the energy outflows. The projects are located in three regions: Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and the Asia and Pacific region.
Five UNDP/GEF biomass energy projects have been implemented in Europe and the CIS region. These projects are:
• Integrated Approach to Wood Waste Combustion for Heat Production in Poland
• Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions trough the Use of Biomass Energy in Northwest Slovakia
• Slovenia - Removing Barriers to the Increased Use of Biomass as an Energy Source
• Biomass Energy for Heating and Hot Water Supply in Belarus
• Economic and Cost-effective use of Wood Waste for Municipal Heating Systems in Latvia
The lessons learnt from projects described above are related to the following:
• Woody biomass from forest residues and the wood-processing industries (wood-chips, sawdust, bark, pellets, etc.)
• Principally heat provision with CHP
• Industrial heating, heating of municipal buildings, and district heating systems
• Small- to medium-scale heating systems (between a few 10s of kilowatts to about 10 megawatts thermal)
All biomass that can be used for energy generation comes either from farming (industry, forestry and agriculture) or natural vegetation. Because of their frequent low cost (sometimes zero or even negative if there are costs associated with disposal) biomass ‘waste’ is usually the first choice for use as biomass fuel. Formal harvesting of vegetation will almost always be more expensive than farm and forest residues, and informal collection is unlikely to provide a sufficiently reliable supply of fuel for power and heat generation in the formal sector and this is the case in the Europe and CIS region. The ‘wet’ bioconversion processes, digestion and fermentation, are currently not covered by any UNDP/GEF projects in the region. Biomass heat applications represent the largest single contribution to renewable energy in Europe, larger even than hydropower.
Wood energy industrial development is far from being homogeneous in Europe. Many countries are just beginning to exploit their potential, while others, like Finland and Sweden, have already developed a high-tech industrial sector (in particular with combined heat and power – CHP – systems) and have already largely tapped their potential. New EU members like Poland, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia and the Baltic States possess abundant raw material, as do the accession states of Bulgaria and Romania, and countries further to the east including Belarus, Ukraine and the Russian Federation. However, this potential remains largely unused or badly used due to a lack of investment in modern, effective technologies. In these countries household fires and stoves are the main users of wood for heat.
Several barriers have been identified in the context of the EU Biomass Action Plan. Out of these, the following are the most important in Albanian situation:
• Lack of appropriate policies and political uncertainty over the duration as well as the level of financial support given to biomass energy. In the words of the Biomass Action Plan “This factor appears to be the most important barrier to tackle since it is convincingly proven that whenever appropriate policies are implemented, the market reacts positively and develops the necessary structures and operational systems to deliver results in accordance with the policy requirements”.
• Lack of awareness among consumers about the benefits of bioenergy and negative attitudes with some concern regarding pollutant emissions.
Biomass in Albania
Biomass in Albania is another renewable source of energy having an extension almost all over the territory of our country. In addition to the firewood which continues to be exploited in an unsteady way, a considerable interest is posed even by the very essential property of bushes and urban solid waste. With regard to the biomass from the agricultural plants, it can not be taken into account since these agricultural remains are being used as food or shelter for domestic animals during the winter period. Biomass produced by the livestock hasn’t been taken into account so far due to the non-considerable number of domestic animals, as well as from the fact that they are not grouped in big livestock farms. For this reason, the biomass produced this way is scarce and presently used as organic fertilizer.
In figures, the contribution of biomass in 2003 has been round 229 ktoe and it is foreseen to reach 201 ktoe in 2020 covering around 7.1% of the energy supply in same year. Following is presented a very rough estimation of the Albania’s technical potential on biomass:
Forest Cover 39%
Total Roundwood Production 409 thousand m3
District heating marketshare in 2002 10% to 19%
Equivalent animal units 792,400.00 units
Total primary crops 3,930,424.00 tonnes
Biomass technical potential in 2003 19 TWth
During the past 7-8 years small applications/studies have been developed in the country. Among them it is interesting to mention:
• Market Analysis for the Fuel Wood Consumption in Households, Commercial-Service, Agriculture and Industrial (SME) Sectors, performed under the GEF-UNDP Project on Second National Communication;
• Pre-feasibility study for carbon projects development in the forestry sector, performed under the UNDP-ADA Project “Building capacities to access Carbon Financing in Albania”;
• Pre-assessment of the country’s potential for the exploitation of biomass through modelling, performed by a joint group of researchers from the Faculty of Forestry Sciences, Tirana Agriculture University and Faculty of Natural Sciences, Chemistry Department, Tirana University.
Recently, a working group has been established including Prime Minister cabinet, academia and private sector. This group have including persons in different professions: Technologist chemist, Engineer chemist, Biologist, Engineer forest, Physics, Agronomist, Chemist analyst, Mushroom producer etc.
Given the Albanian condition it is important to estimate the technical potential for biomass use in the country, for different sources (forest residues, agriculture residues, animal wastes, urban wastes – after appropriate separation, fuel woods).
Objective
The objective of this assignment is to explore potential for a biomass project development in Albania to be further followed either within the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) or by a CDM project.
Duties and responsibilities
• Based on information received from the CO-Albania, the consultant will prepare very clear guidelines on the type of information required from the national counterparts to assist in the project development and a draft agenda for the mission;
• Brief national partners on the GEF CC Focal Area Strategy, project development process and requirements;
• Conduct a brief stakeholder analysis;
• Based on the desk review and data collected during the mission to Albania, assess the Albania’s current situation with regard to the current and planned biomass utilization;
• Estimate the technical potential for biomass use in Albania, as per different sources (fuel woods, urban wastes, agriculture residues, forest residues, and animal wastes);
• Analyze the main biomass technologies available in the country and assess the technology needs with regards to the efficiency improvement;
• Conduct a quick financial analysis of the application of different biomass technologies in Albania;
• Identify the main barriers and based on them the main “drivers” for positive decision making per identified biomass resources in order to enable the biomass technology transfer in Albania;
• Identify initial list of potential projects/partners to invest in biomass;
• Identify and elaborate on the best possible follow up of his/her input, i.e. either a GEF application (in this situation the consultant must ensure that the report he/she is preparing contents all necessary information to develop the Project Identification Form - PIF and the Project Preparation Grant – PPG) or a pre-feasibility study for non-renewable biomass projects that will be suitable to be implemented under the CDM mechanism;
• Prepare ToRs for the major consultancies to be undertaken during the next stage;
Deliverables
Deliverable
Deadline
Deliverable 1: Feasibility study on biomass related technologies suitable for Albania November 20
Deliverable 2: Recommendations for the best follow up activities suitable for Albania November 30
Deliverable 3: Final report December 20
Qualifications
• Excellent understanding of issues pertaining to biomass utilization, supported by an advanced post-graduate degree in environmental disciplines, renewable energy, forestry, etc.;
• A working knowledge of Biomass Projects preferably in Europe. Previous experience on project design (UNDP, CDM and/or GEF projects is an advantage);
• Fluency in written and spoken English;
• Very good interpersonal and cross-cultural communication and negotiating skills with project partners;
• Excellent organizational, written and verbal communication skills.
Timeline and implementation arrangements
The total duration of assignment will be up to 20 working days in the period between October 20 and December 20, 2008. The assignment will involve desk study and one 5-days mission to Albania. Throughout the assignment the consultant will work in close collaboration with UNDP Country Office and relevant stakeholders. The consultant will report on his/her work to Ms. Adriana Micu, UNDP Head of Crosscutting Cluster.
Starting date
20 October 2008
Payment schedule
The consultant will be paid a lump-sum fee upon delivery of the final versions of all the deliverables. Travel expenses will be paid prior to the travel (or upon agreement with consultant). Lump-sum will be calculated based on UNDP’s salary scale and needed daily inputs.
To apply
The interested candidates are requested to apply on-line not later than October 16, 2008, at the http://europeandcis.undp.org/home/jobs/.
Financial proposal shall be submitted together with application.
