Project Specialist, PAU (Two Positions)
Request for Expressions of Interest
Consulting Services – Individual Consultant Selection
Project: Technical Assistance to the SAPP (RETRADE SAPP)
Position: Project Specialist, PAU (Two Positions)
The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) is a regional platform for coordinated power system planning, system operations, and cross-border electricity trading among its 12 member countries. Its operational hub, the SAPP Coordination Centre (SAPP CC) in Harare, oversees day-to-day market and system operations, as well as regional planning. The Project Advisory Unit (PAU) was established within the SAPP CC in 2015, with support from the World Bank, to coordinate and facilitate the development of selected regional energy projects from early-stage preparation through to bankability.
In November 2025, the World Bank approved a grant for the Technical Assistance to the SAPP (the "Project") , known as RETRADE SAPP. The Project forms part of the Regional Energy Transmission, Trade and Decarbonization in Southern Africa Multi-Phase Programmatic Approach (RETRADE-SA MPA) Program, which also finances several interconnector investments in the SAPP region.
With the objective to increase and expand the regional electricity market in the SAPP, the Project provides technical assistance to SAPP and the Southern African Development Community's (SADC) energy institutions—namely, the SADC Secretariat, the Regional Energy Regulators Association of Southern Africa (RERA), and the SADC Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (SACREEE)—through three components:
• Component 1 equips these regional institutions with technical experts, laying the foundation for the implementation of Components 2 and 3;
• Component 2 supports upstream preparation for selected regional energy projects and private sector mobilization, including the operationalization of the Regional Transmission Infrastructure Financing Facility (RTIFF); and
• Component 3 finances analytical work, stakeholder engagement, and capacity building activities essential for advancing regional energy infrastructure development and cross-border power trade.
While the PAU is funded by the Project to carry out its mandate of advancing the preparation of selected regional energy projects — focusing on cross-border transmission but also potentially including in-country backbone projects and other energy investments such as renewables and battery storage supporting regional trade — it also plays a central role in the overall implementation of the RETRADE SAPP Project.
SAPP now invites suitably qualified and experienced individuals ("Consultants") to indicate their interest in providing the Services for the consultancy position of Project Specialist to be based at the SAPP CC Offices in Harare, Zimbabwe. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services.
Key Responsibilities:
• Support the Programmes Manager in facilitating the identification and development of a prioritized pipeline of infrastructure projects, including cross-country and in-country transmission, renewable energy, and battery energy storage systems (BESS) projects to be supported by the PAU. This includes providing technical inputs on project readiness, technical viability, scoping, and sequencing.
• Advise the Programmes Manager on the identification of priority infrastructure projects for PAU support, including analysis of electricity flows across interconnectors and internal lines underpinning regional trade, taking into account market conditions, existing power purchase agreements, and the private sector project pipeline, to the extent information is available.
• Support the Programmes Manager in engagement with private sector developers and financiers to promote market interest in prepared infrastructure projects, including by providing technical inputs on engineering parameters.
• Provide technical inputs to project implementation plans, including activity sequencing, milestones, and resource requirements, ensuring alignment with donor and stakeholder requirements.
• Develop or review concept-level technical notes and design assumptions for transmission lines and substations, including route options, corridor constraints, switching schemes, transformer and reactor requirements, tower concepts, insulation levels, auxiliaries, earthing, and implementation risks.
• Review and validate calculations and studies such as sag-tension, ground clearances, right-of-way widths, foundation assumptions, climate/terrain loading criteria, power flow, stability, fault analyses, protection coordination, and insulation coordination, ensuring consistency with project parameters.
• Develop or review requirements and assumptions for protection and control schemes, relay specifications, substation automation, metering, SCADA/telecom interfaces, and commissioning/testing provisions, ensuring compliance with IEC standards and SAPP Operating Guidelines.
• Provide technical inputs on grid-connected renewable energy and BESS interconnections, including grid-code compliance, plant control, metering, SCADA interfaces, and review of integration studies (steady-state/dynamic simulations, fault ride-through, harmonics, reactive power, inverter specifications, ancillary services).
• Review BESS sizing, state-of-charge management, degradation models, and efficiency assumptions where relevant to feasibility studies.
• Identify technical data gaps requiring additional inputs, surveys, or studies, and advise the PAU and relevant counterparts accordingly.
• Review cost estimates for proposed projects, benchmarking against regional and international references, and provide cost and schedule inputs to support business cases and economic/financial analyses.
• Prepare or review technical specifications, employer's requirements, and bills of quantities for tender documentation packages, covering transmission line, substation, and grid integration scope as required.
• Advise on procurement packaging strategies, including lot structures, turnkey vs. design-build, and supply-and-install splits, ensuring efficiency and alignment with project needs.
• Prepare or review Project Implementation Memoranda (PIMs) from a technical perspective, including scope descriptions, implementation schedules, cost estimates, and risk matrices, addressing both transmission and substation components as necessary.
• Prepare or review concept-level commissioning and testing requirements and specifications for transmission lines, substations, and grid-connected generation and storage assets.
• Develop testing protocols for protection systems, SCADA and telecom systems, and grid integration verification tests, ensuring compliance with applicable standards and SAPP Operating Guidelines.
• Review Factory Acceptance Test specifications and Site Acceptance Test procedures proposed by consulting firms or equipment suppliers, providing technical inputs to ensure quality and reliability.
• Review technical aspects of Terms of Reference for project activities related to transmission lines, substations, and grid integration under PAU-supported regional energy projects, ensuring clarity of scope, deliverables, and timelines.
• Review all deliverables directly relevant to transmission engineering and grid integration under RETRADE SAPP, including studies, reports, and other outputs prepared for regional energy projects supported by the PAU.
• In support of individual regional energy projects, verify consistency of technical assumptions used across feasibility studies, market and network analyses, synchronization studies, and implementation planning or operational readiness outputs.
• Ensure consistency of line–substation interfaces and telecom/OPGW interface assumptions across all project components.
• Participate in project meetings for regional energy projects supported by the PAU and provide technical inputs to meeting minutes and other outputs as required.
• Provide technical inputs and clarifications to Environment and Social Development Specialists regarding project site footprints, route alternatives, access requirements, construction methods, and other engineering considerations as requested.
• Coordinate closely with the other Project Specialist(s) on technical interfaces, shared assumptions, and cross-cutting issues across the project portfolio, to ensure consistency and avoid gaps or duplication.
Qualifications & Experience:
• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Power Engineering, Civil/Structural Engineering, or a closely related field. A Master's degree in any of these fields is an added advantage.
• Corporate membership in a recognized and relevant professional body is desirable.
• A minimum of 10 years of relevant experience in the energy sector, with demonstrated expertise in high-voltage transmission lines (220 kV and above) and/or substations/grid integration (primary plant, protection and control, metering, SCADA/telecom interfaces). Experience at 400 kV is an advantage.
• Demonstrated experience managing or technically reviewing at least three major projects, including transmission line feasibility studies/designs (200 km or longer) and/or substation/grid integration studies or commissioning programs at 220 kV and above.
• Experience with route selection, corridor constraints, constructability considerations, commissioning/testing requirements, and line–substation/telecom (OPGW) interface management.
• Familiarity with international technical standards applicable to transmission lines and substations (e.g., IEC 60826, IEC 61089, IEC 62271, IEC 61850, IEC 60076, IEEE, CIGRE technical brochures) and grid code compliance is required.
• Experience with grid integration of renewable energy (e.g., solar PV 50 MW+), battery energy storage systems (20 MWh+), and SCADA/EMS systems is desirable.
• Experience working on cross-border transmission or regional power projects in the SADC/SAPP region or in a comparable developing country context is an advantage.
• Experience preparing or reviewing technical specifications and employer's requirements for transmission line and substation works is desirable.
• Familiarity with World Bank or multilateral development bank-financed project preparation and procurement processes is desirable.
• Fluency in written and spoken English is required. Working knowledge of Portuguese and/or French is an added advantage.
• Eligible and free from any conflict of interest, in accordance with the World Bank Procurement Regulations.
HOW TO APPLY:
Submission
Interested candidates are requested to submit the Application, relevant experience and qualification accompanied by a comprehensive CV.
The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to Section III, paragraphs, 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank's Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers" 7th edition, September 2025, setting forth the World Bank's policy on conflict of interest.
A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Individual Consultant Selection method set out in the World Bank Procurement Regulations.
Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours [i.e. 0800 to 1630 hours].
A TOR can be found at the following website: (www.sapp.co.zw or can be obtained at the address given below).
Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form to the address below (in person, or by mail, or by e-mail) by 27 April 2026 at 1630 hours local time.
The Executive Director
Attn: Chrispen Zifuke, Human Resources Specialist
Southern African Power Pool Coordination Centre
24 Golden Stairs Road
P.O. Box EH52
Emerald Hill
Harare
ZIMBABWE
Tel: (263)-242-(335517, 335468, 335558 ,782708798/9)
E-mail: hr@sapp.co.zw