Senior Energy Specialist

THIS POSITION IS TRUST- FUNDED BY AN EXTERNAL DONOR.  THE DONOR HAS PROVIDED FUNDING ON THE CONDITION THAT THE POSITION BE RESERVED FOR NATIONALS OF FINLAND.  THIS POSITION IS A TWO YEAR COTERMINOUS TERM APPOINTMENT.

Sub-Saharan Africa faces major infrastructure challenges, the most severe of which are arguably those in the energy sector. Not only is the region’s energy infrastructure meager compared with other regions but electricity service is costly and unreliable.  In recent years more than 30 of the 48 countries in the region have suffered acute energy crises.  Excluding South Africa, sub-Saharan African generation capacity is about 28 GW, about the same as Argentina’s.  Moreover, the region’s available installed generating capacity has been stagnant for many years; its growth rates are barely half those in other developing regions.  Rates of electrification are correspondingly low.  Only about 24 percent of the SSA population has access to electricity versus 40 percent in other low-income countries, and electrification is proceeding slowly.

Hence, increasing electricity supply, at the national and sub-regional level, access scale-up and improving the performance of utilities are priorities for Sub-Saharan African countries.  A majority of the client countries are IDA-only countries, and vary tremendously in size and scope of reform and investment needs.  At the same time, private public partnerships are becoming critical to ensure that investments needs are met in a timely fashion.

The current portfolio of the Energy Unit of the Africa Region’s Sustainable Development (SD) Department (AFTEG) in energy includes investments projects and advisory services supporting the regional electricity market development in Southern, Eastern, Central, and Western Sub Saharan Africa; development of medium and large scale generation projects (both in the public and private sectors), development of competitive electricity markets and reforms of electricity utilities; sub-regional energy trading and infrastructure development, renewable energy generation; new clean energy generation technologies; energy efficiency; rehabilitation of existing generation capacity; new hydro, wind & thermal power plants; transmission and distribution rehabilitation and expansion; and on-grid and off-grid electrification. 

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) is a vision and strategic framework for Africa’s renewal adopted by the Organization of African Unity in 2001.  NEPAD aims to address the current challenges facing the African continent, including escalating poverty levels, underdevelopment and the continued marginalization of Africa. A key NEPAD priority is addressing the current energy crisis through integration of energy systems of the region. To support NEPAD in its initiatives (in particular, in developing the four power pools of the sub-continent, the World Bank intends to recruit an energy specialist, who will be based in its offices in Pretoria, South Africa, and work jointly with the WB and NEPAD.

The Africa Energy Group (AFTEG) intends to recruit a Senior Energy Specialist for Southern Africa to be located on in Pretoria, to support both AFTEG and NEPAD.  This new position reflects the growing energy work program in the Region, the need for increased coordination between the World Bank and regional development institutions, and a desire to increase AFTEG’s presence in the field to enhance its ability to monitor programs and deliver services to clients more efficiently.