Request for Proposal For Consultancy For Engineering Services For The Development Of Feasibility Studies Of Eight Energy Communities In Colombia Incorporating Renewable Energy Generation

Request for proposals for Consultancy for Engineering Services for the Development of Feasibility Studies of Eight Energy Communities in Colombia Incorporating Renewable Energy Generation GGGI Colombia invites eligible firms/entities to submit proposals for the following assignment: Consultancy for engineering services for the development of feasibility studies of eight Energy Communities in Colombia incorporating renewable energy generation. PROJECT BACKGROUND: GGGI Colombia has been supporting the country in advancing a transformative energy access model through Energy Communities (ECs) organized entities whose purpose is to generate environmental, economic, and social benefits to their members or to the local environment through collective renewable energy production, distribution, and management. The legal and institutional framework for ECs in Colombia is rapidly evolving, with CREG Resolution 101 072 of 2025 having recently established for the first time a formal regulatory definition and general operational framework for energy communities integrated into the National Energy System. In August 2026, GGGI started the implementation of the project "Sustainable Power and Resilience for Colombias Energy Communities", which is funded by Mitigation Action Facility Fund (MAF, formerly the Nama Facility). This initiative focuses on energy policy, capacity building and the development of financial instruments for distributed energy systems called Energy Communities (ECs). A central feature of the project is the promotion of an ESCO-led Energy Community model, through which Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) act as project developers, investors, operators, and long-term technical partners of communities. Under this approach, ESCOs identify opportunities, structure projects, mobilize financing, develop and operate renewable energy assets, and establish long-term contractual arrangements with community members and energy users. This model enables communities to access renewable energy services without assuming significant upfront investment costs while providing predictable revenue streams that support private sector participation. During the project design phase, GGGI worked closely with national institutions, financial institutions, ESCOs, community organizations, and other stakeholders to define a market-based implementation model for Energy Communities. These consultations confirmed that the principal barriers to scaling Energy Communities are not the lack of community interest or technical solutions, but rather the limited availability of bankable project pipelines, insufficient risk-mitigation instruments, the absence of standardized contractual structures, and remaining regulatory gaps that affect investor confidence. To address these challenges, GGGI designed two complementary financial mechanisms: (i) a Project Preparation Facility (PPF, to be operationalized through the Fondo de Energías no Convencionales y Gestión Eficiente de la Energía - FENOGE), conceived as a structuring fund to take community energy projects to a bankable, ready-to-build stage; and (ii) a Credit Risk Guarantee Mechanism to be operationalized through the Fondo Nacional de Garantías (FNG), designed to reduce commercial banks risk perception and improve access to credit on favorable terms for energy community projects and their promoters. These instruments are intended to catalyze private sector participation, improve project quality and financing readiness, reduce transaction costs, and create a sustainable pipeline of investment-ready Energy Community projects. The project will be implemented through a phased approach designed to establish the institutional, financial, and regulatory conditions required for the large-scale deployment of EC in Colombia. During Implementation Phase 1 (IP1), covering the first twelve months of project implementation, the primary focus will be on operationalizing the projects financial instruments and validating the proposed Energy Community business model through a limited number of pilot initiatives. A key objective of IP1 is to ensure that the legal, institutional, governance, operational, and financial arrangements required for the implementation of the PPF and the Credit Risk Guarantee Mechanism are fully developed, validated with the relevant counterpart institutions, and ready for execution. By the conclusion of IP1, GGGI expects to have finalized the agreements, operational manuals, governance structures, financial management arrangements, and implementation procedures required to enable the formal launch and implementation of both mechanisms during the subsequent implementation phase. As part of IP1, the Project will support the development and structuring of eight (8) pilot EC projects representing different EC typologies and implementation contexts across Colombia. These pilot projects are intended to validate the operational design of the PPF, support the implementation of the Credit Risk Guarantee Mechanism, demonstrate the bankability of ESCO-led Energy Community models, and generate lessons learned for future scale-up activities during Implementation Phase 2. The pilots will serve as flagship cases to test technical, financial, commercial, legal, social, and institutional approaches before the large-scale deployment phase begins. The selected Consultancy Firm will be responsible for pre-feasibility and project screening of all eight pilot projects under Deliverable 2 and for the technical, engineering, environmental, commercial, and financial structuring of the four (4) most suitable projects identified under Deliverable 2, advancing those same four projects toward an investment-ready stage under Deliverables 3 and 4. To support this process, GGGI will engage additional specialized consultancies responsible for legal and regulatory advisory services and community engagement and social structuring activities. The engineering consultant shall work in close coordination with these firms to ensure consistency between the technical design, business model, financing structure, legal and contractual arrangements, community governance mechanisms, social participation processes, and investment requirements of each project, according to its stage within the phased scope. Particular attention shall be given to coordinating the technical assumptions required for the development of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), Energy Community governance structures, financing arrangements, Project Preparation Facility procedures, Credit Risk Guarantee requirements, community participation processes, and GESI considerations. The pilot projects shall be used to validate and refine the projects implementation framework and establish standardized methodologies that can be replicated during the subsequent scaling phase of the Project The objective of this assignment is to support the Implementation Phase 1 activities of the project by conducting pre-feasibility and project screening assessments of eight pilot Energy Community (EC) projects in Colombia under Deliverable 2 and developing the technical, engineering, environmental, commercial, and financial structuring of the four (4) most suitable projects identified through that assessment under Deliverables 3 and 4. GGGI shall provide the Consultancy Firm with the eight (8) pilot projects at the beginning of consultancy implementation. These pilot projects will be used to validate the projects ESCO-led implementation model, the operational design of the Project Preparation Facility (PPF), and the Credit Risk Guarantee Mechanism. The Consultancy Firm shall deliver the studies and analyses required to advance the same four selected projects to an investment-ready and Ready-to-Build (RTB) stage, providing a foundation for future replication and scale-up during Implementation Phase 2. One or two of the eight projects will be located in non-interconnected areas (ZNI). Tender Link : https://in-tendhost.co.uk/gggi/aspx/Tenders/Current