The Gambia seeks consulting support for solar power project

18 September 2018 Consultancy.africa

The Gambia has become the latest African country to seek support from the consulting industry for a major energy project. The assignment involves an initial review of contract documents and the subsequent project supervision and management for the establishment of a solar PV plant.

The National Water and Electricity Company of the Republic of The Gambia – the country’s public sector utilities provider – has put a call out for consultants to support with the implementation of a solar power project, which involves the installation of a major solar PV grid.

Selected consulting firms will be tasked with a two-pronged assignment. The first phase involves the review and assessment of the design plans that have been prepared thus far by contractors, specifically for the construction of a 132 kilovolt (kV) transmission line for the distribution of solar energy.

The Gambia seeks consulting support for solar power project

The designs also include plans for the establishment of substations along the transmission lines. Once these designs have been reviewed, the consulting firm will take over the supervision and management of the contract, starting from the initial construction phase to the subsequent implementation.

In a request for proposals, the water and electricity company indicated its desire for a firm with at least ten years of experience in the project management domain, in addition to prior project completions in developing markets.

The project represents the latest in a string of development initiatives that have emerged across Africa in recent times, particularly since it came to light that the continent suffers from a major shortage of investment in infrastructure. A further shortage of expertise in the energy generation domain has prompted several countries to seek consulting support for project implementation.

Another trend that this project reinforces is the gravitation towards renewable forms of energy generation. A number of the projects initiated in recent months have involved the construction of large scale solar PV grids, exemplified by the Scaling-Up Renewable Energy Programme in Ghana, which involves the deployment of 15,000 units of roof-mounted solar PV systems across the country.