Development of an Integrated Resource and Resilience Plan for Trinidad and Tobago

Description

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is seeking a specialized consulting firm in the energy sector and power system planning to support the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) in developing an Integrated Resource and Resilience Plan (IRRP).

The main objective is to establish a coordinated, actionable roadmap combining demand forecasting, resource optimization, and grid modernization over a 10-to-20-year horizon, featuring an immediate near-term action plan for the first 5 years.

1. Least-Cost Planning and Renewable Integration
Production Cost and UCED Modeling: Conduct resource adequacy assessments and production cost modeling using Unit Commitment and Economic Dispatch (UCED) tools to evaluate operational feasibility, reserve requirements, and ramping capabilities under multiple scenarios.

Clean Energy Framework: Identify least-cost pathways for the efficient grid integration of Variable Renewable Energy (VRE), Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), and demand-side management resources.

Ancillary System Services: Define essential grid services, operating flexibility, and reserve margins required to maintain system stability and reliability as the share of non-dispatchable energy increases.

2. Grid Resilience and Tobago Strategic Analysis
Hazard Stress Testing: Assess power system vulnerabilities by performing comprehensive risk mapping and stress testing against natural hazards, extreme weather events, and severe operational risks.

Tobago Power System Alternatives: Evaluate specific electricity supply options for the sister island of Tobago, comparing localized self-sufficiency alternatives against bulk load interconnection infrastructure with Trinidad.

Contract Transition Support (PPA): Provide analytical and technical support for strategic utility decisions, focusing on the expiration, transition, or renegotiation of active Power Purchase Agreements.

3. Financial Sustainability and Capital Investment Pipelines
Bankable Project Pipeline: Structure a prioritized investment roadmap across generation, storage, transmission, and distribution assets, detailing CAPEX and OPEX estimates, project timelines, and procurement packaging.

Tariff and Revenue Trajectories: Translate the proposed investment pathways into clear revenue requirement profiles, analyzing the downstream impacts on consumer tariffs, government subsidies, and the overall financial performance of T&TEC.

Network Reinforcements: Pinpoint critical transmission and distribution expansions necessary to support localized demand growth, renewable energy injections, and new heavy industrial bulk load connections.

4. Capacity Building and Knowledge Transfer
Process Institutionalization: Establish internal guidelines, protocols, and institutional frameworks to ensure that the updates and management of the IRRP become a repeatable internal planning process for T&TEC.

Digital Asset Handover: Execute a complete transfer of all constructed mathematical models, planning datasets, software tools, methodologies, and technical documentation.

Hands-on Technical Training: Deliver intensive workshops and practical training sessions to guarantee that T&TEC's engineering and planning staff can autonomously operate and update the deployed tools.

Note: Interested companies must review the requirements in the BEO Bidders Portal.