Ethiopia seeks support with training professionals in electricity distribution

Ethiopia is looking for consulting support for a major energy project in the domain of electricity distribution. The request for services has been put out jointly by the Ethiopia Electric Agency (EEA) and Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) and involves the design and implementation of targeted training programmes.

As Ethiopia looks to expand its energy generation profile to meet its growing demand, the country is looking to ensure that the professionals operating this infrastructure have the skills and knowhow required to achieve optimal efficiency. To this end, the EEA and EEP have called upon consultants to train their staff.

Training will take place in several domains, broadly divided by the entities into five major categories, namely ‘economic and technical regulation of the electricity sector,’ ‘ energy efficiency and conservation,’ ‘geothermal resource regulation,’ ‘management skill capacity development,’ and ‘electrical works assessors training.’

The selected consulting firms will be expected to devise the strategy as well as the design for the training module, following which it will organise the training sessions and deliver each module. The firm will be offered the freedom to select the training methodology of their choice.

In addition, the firm will also be responsible for a host of secondary factors, including the recruitment of trainers with expertise in the various modules, as well as the development of the training materials such as readings and texts, alongside the recruitment of teachers aids to ease the training process.

At a more practical level, the consulting firm will select the venue for its training sessions and pay for it as well, while simultaneously coordinating between the EEA and the trainers to find times suitable to both parties. Feedback on each session will also be recorded and reported back to the EEA.

The training modules will help equip the EEA with the expertise to manage the host of new development projects that are now operational in the country. Since the start of this year, the firm has secured support for the development of a thermal power plant as well as for a Power-Africa-backed data management system.