Junior Energy Advisor – Centre for Sustainable Energy Modelling (CSEM)

Job description

Position: Junior Energy Advisor – Centre for Sustainable Energy Modelling (CSEM)

Location: Lusaka, Zambia

Contract Duration: Full-time through March 2026

Cities and Infrastructure for Growth Zambia (CIGZambia):

CIGZambia is a United Kingdom Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) funded technical assistance programme that supports Zambia’s transition towards a more sustainable, inclusive, and climate-resilient energy sector. Working closely with the Ministry of Energy, ZESCO, ERB, and IDC, CIGZambia provides independent technical advice and institutional support to strengthen energy system planning, implement electricity sector reforms, and mobilise investment aligned with Zambia’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP).

Our work is structured across two core workstreams:

Energy System Planning through the Centre for Sustainable Energy Modelling (CSEM) – institutionalising long-term energy planning capacity, data systems, and modelling tools.
Open Access Reform and ISMO establishment – supporting the Government to design and launch a transparent, investor-friendly market operator that safeguards the public interest.

CIGZambia’s ultimate objective is to help unlock the $11.6 billion in energy sector investments identified in the IRP by 2030, ensuring universal access to reliable, affordable power while protecting social and climate priorities.

About the Role

The consultant will play a key role in developing the implementation plan for the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for the electricity sector as well as the development and institutionalisation of the Energy Planning System for the Ministry of Energy. The IRP is a 30-year plan for sustainable electricity investment in generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure that will ensure universal access to clean, reliable and affordable electricity at the lowest total environmental, social, economic and financial cost consistent with local, national and regional development goals. The IRP includes implications arising from demand-side management (DSM), financing and pricing and will assist in creating the optimum balance between on-grid and off-grid investment in power infrastructure to meet the electrification needs of the population.

The Junior Energy Advisor will work under the direct supervision of the Energy Systems Lead. However, the Junior Energy Advisor is also expected to work closely with other Workstream Leads, particularly the Independent System and Market Operator Lead, on other tasks (e.g., data collection).

At the time of recruitment for this role, support from CIGZambia to the Ministry of Energy and ZESCO to institutionalise the IRP has been ongoing for approximately a year, including the development of models for longer-term energy system planning. It is anticipated that the Ministry of Energy will establish a Centre for Sustainable Energy Modelling (CSEM), within which there will be capacity to develop and run models of the energy system. In the meantime, prior to the establishment of the CSEM, CIGZambia and sister programmes (e.g., Climate Compatible Growth – CCG) are providing advisory support to government energy sector institutions including developing and running models. These efforts use Antares linear models for transmission/generation optimisation, PowerFactory dynamic modelling for transmissiaon/generation feasibility and OSeMOSYS models for broader energy system modelling.

Specifically, the consultant will:

Responsibility 1: Support development of the Energy Planning System for the Electricity sector. Tasks include:

Assist in the development and maintenance of planning models in Antares under senior supervision to provide inputs to energy planning.
Support transmission optimization modelling, including energy storage modelling.
Support the development and maintenance of planning models in PowerFactory under guidance; assist in establishing connections between Antares and PowerFactory models.
Assist in linking OSeMOSYS (an open-source modelling system for long-run integrated assessment and energy planning) and Antares and support running simulations to demonstrate the key attributes and benefits of running the two pieces of software complementing each other.

Responsibility 2: Support capacity building (training, skills development) for energy planning institutions in generation planning using Antares. Tasks include:

Contribute to the development of a generation planning capacity building plan, based around Antares as a tool.
Assist in institutional capacity building for energy system planning.
Support delivery of training sessions and technical assistance to government counterparts.
Develop slide decks and guiding tools for capacity building trainings.
Responsibility 3: Support collection and curation of data that will be needed for the next iteration of the IRP. Tasks include:
Assist in collecting and organizing the latest available demand data, generation data, transmission and distribution data including distributed generation.
Support data validation and quality assurance processes.
Maintain data repositories and documentation under supervision.

Responsibility 4: Support management of resources from software providers. Tasks include:

Assist in developing licensing plans for CIGZambia and Government of Zambia institutions.
Support interactions with modelling software providers under senior guidance.
Help monitor and track limited resource budgets for technical support and training from software providers (negotiated as part of licensing agreements).

Skills and experience

Advanced degree in energy systems, engineering, or a related field.
Professional experience working with linear optimisation energy tools such as Antares, OSeMOSYS, PLEXOS, GTMax (Generation and Transmission Maximization Model), etc.
Professional experience working with PowerFactory (desirable).
Scripting and/or coding capabilities in relevant languages such as python.
Deep understanding of electricity generation, transmission, and distribution systems.
Analytical mindset with the ability to identify gaps and provide actionable solutions.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills for reporting and presenting findings.

Key Deliverables:

Description (D)
D1 – Support in compiling and curating training materials for Antares, PowerFactory and OSeMOSYS
D2 – Contribute to recommendations for energy system planning in Zambia including software and hardware requirements
D3 – Assist in maintaining up-to-date models of the Zambia power system built in Antares, PowerFactory and OSeMOSYS

Applications:

Please send your CV and Cover Letter to admin@cigzambia.org. For application to be considered, subject line in the email must be completed as follows: Junior Energy Advisor – Candidate Last Name, First Name.

Deadline for Applications: October 8, 2025