Under the Global Network of Regional Sustainable Energy Centres (GN-SEC) program, UNIDO supports the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) in the establishment of the Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency for Central Africa (CEREEAC), which aims to accelerate the energy and climate transition by providing support “from the region for the region”. The geographic scope of the centre includes Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe. The technical and institutional design of the CEREEAC (hereinafter referred to as the “centre”) is the result of a comprehensive consultative preparatory process, which was undertaken by UNIDO and ECCAS between 2020 and 2021. The centre was adopted by the Energy Ministers on 8 June 2021 and formally established by Decision No. 04/CEEAC/CCEG/XIX/21 of the 19th Conference of Heads of State and Government held on 30 July 2021 in Brazzaville. Following a competitive selection process, Luanda, Angola was designated as the host location of the CEREEAC Secretariat.
The centre received full legal identity with all rights and privileges upon the signature of the host country agreement between ECCAS and the Government of Angola on 3 November 2021. The centre was officially inaugurated on 10 March 2023 during a high-level ceremony, co-organised by the Government of Angola, ECCAS and UNIDO. The Start-Up Unit of CEREEAC has officially been established at the centre’s premises on 16 June 2023. The Start-Up Unit and the CEREEAC Secretariat will streamline their operations through a network of National Focal Institutions (NFIs) and Thematic Hubs (THs) among all ECCAS countries. The CEREEAC management operates under the guidance and oversight of a Ministerial Steering Committee and an Executive Board. The CEREEAC aims to address demand and supply-side barriers for integrated and inclusive ECCAS sustainable energy product and service markets by promoting economies of scale, equal progress, joint learning and spillover effects between countries. Through cross-border approaches and methodologies, the centres will complement and accelerate national efforts in the areas of policy, regulation, quality infrastructure, qualification, knowledge and facilitation of investment and entrepreneurship. It will serve as a central hub for knowledge, and counselling, as well as international and local partnerships.
The creation of the CEREEAC is an important contribution to the envisaged structural transformation in Central Africa. Global emergencies, such as climate change, the COVID-19 health and economic crisis and frequent oil price fluctuations are demonstrating the vulnerability of Central African countries, which are highly dependent on the export of raw materials, including oil and gas. The shift towards renewable energy and resource efficiency, as well as circular economy practices, is an important prerequisite for the success of economic diversification, industrialisation, and climate actions. The expansion of higher-added-value manufacturing and servicing in Central Africa requires rapid investments in climate-resilient low-carbon energy infrastructure.
With the creation of the CEREEAC, the GN-SEC will cover the entire African continent. It will become an important triangular capacity hub to accelerate the implementation of the industrialisation, energy and climate goals in the African Union Agenda 2063 “The Africa We want”. It contributes to the AU efforts to establish a harmonised continental electricity market and free trade area, as well as the implementation of the Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa (2016–2025). UNIDO will facilitate south-south and triangular cooperation between CEREEAC and the other African centres, including RCREEE (Egypt), ECREEE (Cape Verde), SACREEE (Namibia) and EACREEE (Uganda) on common energy issues and solutions.
From the very beginning, CEREEAC will operate according to local rules and within ECCAS ownership and decision-making processes. UNIDO provides mentoring and technical services related to institution-building, technical program development, partnership building and fund mobilisation throughout the first operational phase of the centre. It is envisaged that the centre will reach full independence and financial and technical sustainability by the end of the project period. Currently, the centre is building up its technical and administrative staff capacities. The centre has started with a small, gender-balanced, multicultural Start-Up Unit comprising technical and administrative experts. The Unit is expected to expand, depending on its performance and raised programmatic funding. With over 77% of the 745 million global population that lack access to electricity living in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the average regional electrification rate is as low as ~35%, while the national ones range from 15% to 85%. Therefore, increasing universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services by 2030 is key to achieving the agenda of the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7.
Furthermore, the electricity demand is expected to grow massively on the African continent in the coming decades. This demand will also increase the emission intensity of the continent’s electrification pathway, with certain implications for low-carbon development and eventually climate change action. Lighting and cooling sectors, including refrigeration and air conditioning, account for over 15% and 20% of global power consumption contributing over 5% and 7% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions respectively. Moreover, with factors like high rates of urbanisation, extreme surges in temperatures and economic growth, the demand for cooling services in Africa are also growing for the key sectors such as residential and commercial buildings, healthcare, manufacturing, and agricultural value chains. Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve energy efficiency, while delivering access to affordable and sustainable energy services for these important sectors.
In Central Africa, similar to many other parts of SSA, energy-efficient lighting and appliances have not effectively attracted the attention of policymakers, utilities, and end-users. It is therefore imperative to establish a policy framework in the region with the new policy and regulatory measures to support a successful transition to quality light-emitting diode (LED) lighting, energy-efficient refrigeration and air conditioning across the Central African region to leverage the associated benefits.
With support from the "First operational phase of the CEREEAC" project, Central Africa will adopt c and a compliance framework for lighting, refrigeration, and air conditioning as a key outcome of having Regional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency policies, regulations, and standards. This work will be financially supported by the European Union (EU) under the action titled "Support Programme for ECCAS specialized organizations for the operationalization of the regional market and development of renewable energies". Under this action, the EU supports the development of a regional electricity market in Central Africa and the uptake of renewable energies in the energy mix, in order to contribute to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Furthermore, this initiative is in alignment with the regional White Paper on universal access to modern energy services for economic and social development by 2030. The implementation process is being driven by regional energy initiatives, which aim to meet the needs of the population. This will commence with an assessment of the existing landscape of the emerging energy-efficiency lighting, refrigeration, and air conditioning market, with a focus on the state of lighting products, refrigerators, and air conditioners, regulatory and policy tools, and the capacity of national institutions such as standards bodies. This will be followed by the facilitation of the adoption, implementation, and compliance to the standards across the region. The proposed Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) and compliance strategy framework for the aforementioned devices builds upon the initiatives that have previously been implemented by the Energy Efficient Lighting and Appliances (EELA) project.2F3 Funded by the Government of Sweden, UNIDO implemented this program in collaboration with SACREEE and EACREEE, covering all the member states of both the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community (EAC). The project objectives were to improve energy efficiency for an array of appliances and subsequently allow the region to take advantage of its associated benefits, including industrial development and reducing poverty. By transferring and building upon this framework, the Central African region will similarly aim to reap the benefits of this work, and harmonise the MEPS across these regions.
When preparing standards and compliance frameworks, the EELA project collaborated with, and benefitted from the technical expertise of the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) United for Efficiency (U4E) program (https://united4efficiency.org/country-regional-activities/eac-sadc/). The contributions from U4E are instrumental to the continued success of the EELA project and by extension, these benefits will pass through to the development of MEPS and compliance programs in Central Africa.
UNIDO is seeking for consulting services to carry out a comprehensive regional baseline needs assessment and adoption of MEPS for lighting products, refrigerators, and air conditioners. This initiative aims to create an enabling environment that promotes a transformative shift towards the widespread adoption and use of energy-efficient lighting, refrigeration, and air conditioning solutions in all sectors within the ECCAS region. Additionally, this initiative will support a comprehensive regional adoption strategy for the MEPS to provide policy and regulatory guidance to facilitate the implementation at the national level. These efforts align closely with the outcomes of the EELA project and the U4E initiative in other regions of the African Union. Notably, Rwanda and Burundi already have nationally implemented MEPS, as a result of their membership to the EAC and similarly Angola and the DRC as part of SADC. Furthermore, Sao Tome and Principe has also independently developed and implemented MEPS on a national level. By transferring and adapting the MEPS to the remaining Central African states, this work will enable the integration and harmonisation of standards across the ECCAS region, while fostering a coordinated approach to energy efficiency promotion.
Another important milestone of this assignment will be the organization of a regional training and validation workshop to consolidate the MEPS implementation and compliance framework for lighting, refrigeration, and air conditioning the ECCAS region. This is a crucial stage for ensuring the robustness of the strategy and its alignment with regional dynamics and needs. Lastly, the strategy will also entail awareness raising mechanisms aimed at engaging and educating key market players and policymakers about the benefits and significance of energy-efficient lighting, refrigeration, and air conditioning.
The assignment will be delivered through the following specific objectives:
a) Based on the already produced regional MEPS for the EAC and the SADC regions, conduct a regional baseline assessment to evaluate market conditions, with a specific focus on the adoption of MEPS for lighting, refrigeration, and air conditioning appliances.
b) Prepare the ECCAS MEPS for lighting, refrigeration, and air conditioning and a comprehensive regional adoption strategy. The objective is to promote the adoption of energy-efficient lighting (more info here), refrigeration, and air conditioning products, along with appropriate incentive schemes to encourage their uptake.
c) Design an awareness program for key market stakeholders to foster a supportive ecosystem for the adoption of MEPS in the region especially at national levels.
d) Organise and facilitate a regional training and validation workshop to endorse the MEPS as well as the implementation and compliance framework for the ECCAS.3F4 This workshop will ensure that the compliance strategy is relevant and effective in promoting the adoption of MEPS in lighting products and appliances for refrigeration and air conditioning.
The contracted consultants are expected to provide the following deliverables (in French and English):
Deliverable 1:
• Inception report (incl. list of documents to be reviewed, interviews and meetings to be held), to be reviewed by UNIDO and CEREEAC.
Deliverable 2:
• ECCAS baseline needs assessment report for the adoption of regional MEPS, and a draft compliance strategy framework for lighting, refrigeration and air conditioning products, to be reviewed by UNIDO and CEREEAC.
Deliverable 3:
• Draft of the regional MEPS and compliance strategy framework for lighting refrigerators, and air conditioners in the ECCAS region, to be reviewed by UNIDO and the CEREEAC.
Deliverable 4:
• A regional training and validation workshop aimed at endorsing and validating the regional MEPS and compliance framework for lighting products, refrigerators and air conditioners in the ECCAS region.
• A detailed regional awareness strategy and capacity-building activities, tailored to key market influencers and policymakers.
• A final report that covers the outcomes of the regional training and validation workshop.
Bidders are requested to submit their proposals by June 25th by registering on the UNIDO e-procurement portal (https://www.unido.org/get-involved-procurement/procurement-opportunities). In case of difficulties, please contact the UNIDO Help Desk at procurement@unido.org.
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