Consultancy Services for a 5-Year Strategic Plan — RREA

Republic of Liberia

Rural and Renewable Energy Agency (RREA)

Request for Expression of Interest Consultancy Services for CONSULTANCY SERVICE TO DEVELOP A STRATEGY AND ENERGY MASTER PLAN FOR THE RURAL AND RENEWABLE ENERGY AGENCY

(CONSULTING SERVICES – FIRM SELECTION)

Liberia Renewable Energy Access Project

Contract Reference No: LR-RREA-521340-CS-CQS

Issue Date: December 23, 2025

Deadline: January 6, 2026

1.0 Background

The Rural and Renewable Energy Agency (RREA) of Liberia is an agency of the Government of Liberia with main mandate to accelerate and facilitate the commercial deployment of modern energy services to rural areas with an emphasis on locally available renewable energy resources. Established by Act in 2015, the RREA plays a crucial role in achieving the government's goal of universal energy access by 2030 in alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (#7), ECOWAS Regional Renewable Energy Policy, Liberia’s ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development, Rural Energy Strategy & Masterplan, and the National Electrification Strategy.

As per the 2021 revised Nationally Determined Contributions, Liberia commits to reducing economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 64% below the projected business-as-usual level by 2030. Mitigation targets set for the energy sector by 2030 include the following:

• Reduce GHG emissions from energy sector by 40.6% below business-as-usual levels by 2030,

• Produce and distribute energy saving cook stoves to reduce the use of fuel wood and charcoal (Link to Forest sector),

• Reduce emissions by 588 Gg CO2e per year by making sure 60% of households using wood fuel or charcoal are supplied with energy efficient cook stoves by 2030.

Adaptation targets set for the energy sector include the following:

• Creation of private investment enabling environment focusing on Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) in renewables,

• Risk mapping of climate stress vulnerability of energy infrastructure – -future investments should be guided by such risk mapping,

• Updating design and construction standards and materials to ensure that future energy infrastructure are more resilient to anticipated climate and extreme weather events, Development of off-grid small Hydro Power Plants and on-grid ones via PPAs to maximize the opportunities that energy access offers in improving livelihoods and diversifying income sources,

• Promote productive uses of energy through skills training, access to finance and business development,

• Develop large photovoltaic (PV) Plants with Independent Power Producers (IPPs) by signing PPAs to diversify the energy mix to provide a more resilient system to climate vulnerability.

Monthly solar radiation on horizontal surface ranges from about 4 kWh/m2/day during the rainy season in June, July, August to 6 kWh/m2/day during the height of dry season in February and March. The US national Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) studied biomass resources (other than forestry) in Liberia with a view on how these resources could be used for energy purposes. NREL also indicated that the potential annual waste stream from logging operations, once they restart, could be very substantial, with an estimated 20 million m3 available (162,645 TJ/year), of which 10.9 million m3 at sawmills and the remainder at the logging site; most of that waste would be lost. The annual waste at the sawmills would be able to produce 100 million bags of charcoal, if all waste were convertible into charcoal; this is much more than is currently used in the country. According to the Rural Energy Strategy and Masterplan, hydropower potential of 2 300 MW has been identified in Liberia. This potential is mainly on large rivers with high mean annual flow and low heads. Several locations have heads and flows above 50 m3/s, thus good for above 5 MW hydro schemes.

To accelerate progress towards universal access by 2030, the Government of Liberia developed an energy compact under Mission 300 which targets to achieve 75% energy access by 2030 with the below sub-targets to be achieved as of 2025:

• Electricity access: 100,000 annual connections, out of which 60,000 would be grid-tied, 15,000 through mini-grids and 25,000 through stand-alone systems,

• Clean cooking access: 200,000 clean cookstoves distributed,

• Renewable Energy mix: 75% of electricity generation from renewable energy sources.

In keeping with Liberia’s 2015 Electricity law as well as existing institutional and policy frameworks for the energy sector, several key stakeholders will be involved into the planning, implementation oversight, monitoring & evaluation as well as creation of enabling environment to achieve the national energy compact under Mission 300, including the following:

• Ministry of Mines & Energy: responsible for policy formulation including integrated planning and oversight/monitoring for the energy sector,

• Liberia Electricity Corporation: responsible for delivery of grid-tied electricity as a national utility company and involved as per LERC licensing into electricity importation, generation, distribution and retail trade; as well as owner and operator of transmission infrastructure,

• Liberia Electricity Regulatory Commission: independent regulator for the electricity sector and responsible for the issuance and ensuring compliance oversight of regulations covering legal (licensing/permitting), technical and economic (tariff) issues.

The development of this strategy and business plan for the RREA will focus on seven key areas aimed at achieving a renewed ambition for the RREA with the following strategic objectives:

• Achieving universal access to clean, affordable and sustainable energy by 2030, aligning with national development goals and targets.

• Investment into digital technology infrastructures to strengthen energy access planning, tendering, implementation and monitoring & evaluation,

• Review and recommend enabling policy, legal, institutional and regulatory framework to attract and stimulate private sector investments through innovative and sustainable financing mechanisms, addressing access to finance challenge, consumers affordability challenge, eliminating competition from traditional energy sources (fossil fuels) and low-quality renewable energy products and services, removing policy and regulatory barriers to reduce risks for private sector investments,

• Scaling up productive use of energy to drive rural industrialization and economic development.

• Advancing the decarbonization of the rural energy sector, aligning with global sustainability goals and climate commitments.

• Showcasing electrification success stories and providing a blueprint for effective and sustainable electrification models.

To date, there are several high-level policies and planning frameworks for renewable energy access, but which have the following limitations and which this assignment will complement:

• 2015 Renewable Energy Strategy & Masterplan: in contravention of the UN sustainable development goals, as well as Liberia’s 2009 National Energy Policy, 2024 ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development and Liberia’s 2024 National Energy Compact under Mission 300 only seeks to achieve 35% energy access for rural populations covering off-grid/rural electrification, clean cooking, energy efficiency and renewable energy generation;

• 2020 National Electrification Strategy: despite setting targets and strategies for universal access to electricity, it is only limited to electricity access and does not consider other energy access types such as clean cooking, energy efficiency, e-mobility, productive use for large industrial users such as agriculture, mining/extractive and commercial & industrial value chains. Also, it only considers initiatives for expansion of the grid’s transmission and distribution infrastructure through expansion and densification, but doesn’t consider the electricity supply deficit by targeting additional investment into renewable energy generation.

In light of the above, the Agency is embarking on a significant transformation to achieve its renewed ambition. This necessitates a comprehensive framework that seamlessly integrates key areas, effectively repositions the agency, and charts a clear path for success.

A crucial step in this transformation is developing a new strategy and business plan that aligns with the high-level strategy. This plan will empower the RREA to adapt to the evolving sectoral landscape, drive impactful initiatives, and deliver on its mandate more effectively.

2.0 Objective of the Assignment

The primary objective of this consultancy is to facilitate the development of an actionable and strategic Strategy and business plan for the RREA. Other key objectives include:

• Refinement of high-level strategy and aligning with the RREA's renewed ambition, focusing on key outcomes: universal access to energy, direct investment by private Renewable Energy Service Companies (RESCOs), productive use of energy, decarbonization, and showcasing success stories.

• Institutional assessment of the REA including internal structure, operations and processes, to determine requirements to deliver on key strategic outcomes.

• Definition of clear objectives, strategies, and action plans to achieve the RREA's goals taking into consideration the need for a unified energy access strategy and plan that harmonizes the efforts of all stakeholders including decentralized stakeholders towards universal access to clean, affordable and sustainable energy,

• Provide a roadmap for effective project implementation, resource allocation, and review existing monitoring and evaluation frameworks to ascertain effectiveness and suitability vis-à-vis the new direction of the REA.

• Through financial modelling, outline the financial requirements and strategies f