consultant to support the activities of Hydro Operation Great Lakes LTD

Hydro Operation Great Lakes Ltd (HOGL) is a Rwandan company based in Kigali, active since 2016 in the development, engineering, and operation and maintenance (O&M) of hydropower plants (HPPs) in the Great Lakes region (mainly Rwanda, DRC, and Burundi).

HOGL is seeking a Senior Consultant or a Company with relevant experience in the hydropower sector.

As an expert, the consultant or the company will support the HOGL team in the development of its activities in Rwanda, including, but not limited to:

• Maintenance and design of hydropower plants
• Maintenance and design of low and medium voltage systems
• PLC and HMI software design and implementation
• Integrating and connecting sensors to PLCs
• Assistance in database management

The Consultant will have a framework contract with HOGL. The expected number of working days per month will range from a minimum of 2 days to a maximum of 10 days (to be agreed upon by both the Consultant and HOGL), depending on the consultant’s availability and HOGL’s project workload. The duration of the assignment will be 24 months.

1 Shortlisting requirements

Consultants or employees of the contracting company must have the following qualifications to be shortlisted:

• A consultant must be resident in Rwanda (or committed to become a resident during the contract period);
• A company must be a VAT-registered business, able to issue EBM invoices as outlined in VAT law No. 37/2012, Article 24.
• Master’s degree (MS, MSc) in Mechanical, Electrical, or Electromechanical Engineering.

Minimum of 15 years of relevant experience in the hydropower sector, including:

• At least 10 years in a reputable O&M company or a turbine manufacturer.
• At least 10 references in the hydropower sector in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Strong knowledge of the area of intervention (Rwanda, Burundi, and Kivu).
• Fluency in English and French.

Full proficiency in:

• PLC programming (Crouzet, Eaton, and Siemens).
• HMI user-interface programming (Wintek EasyBuilder).
• Software for single-line diagram drafting.
• Software development on Arduino.
• Comfortable with various communication protocols (Modbus TCP-IP, Modbus RS485, LoRaWAN, etc.).

Considered an asset:

• Good knowledge of Swahili, Kinyarwanda, or Kirundi.
• Experience in a continent other than Africa.
• Familiarity with EWON products.
• Experience with PostgreSQL.

2 Application Process

Interested Consultants or Companies who meet all the requirements may express their interest by submitting the following documents:

• Application letter expressing interest (English or French).
• Curriculum Vitae (CV) dully signed (English or French).
• Copy of the relevant academic certificates (English or French).
• List of minimum 10 projects (in English) in sub-Saharan-Africa.

This list must include:

• Name of the project and location.
• Year of performance of the prestation and status of the project.
• Power, head, and flow of the project.
• Description of the tasks performed by the applicant and approximation of workdays on the project.
• References: contacts (email and phone number) of the project manager of the client/owner (if the applicant does not wish HOGL to contact this reference, please specify it and provide a clear reason).
• List of specific software with valid licences owned by the consultant or the company.

The required documents should be submitted via email at info@hogl.rw , not later than Friday 16^th of May 2025, 5 PM CAT. The subject line of the email must be “Senior Consultant + Full names of the Applicant”.

3 Selection Process

• After a careful verification of all requirements by HOGL, shortlisted consultants or companies will be invited to take an online test to assess their technical capabilities.
• Only candidates who successfully pass the test will receive the Request for Proposal (RFP), along with additional project details and a proposed contract.

4. Assignment Start Date

The assignment is expected to begin on June 1, 2025, or earlier if possible.

For clarification and details on the scope of works, interested parties may address their queries in writing to HOGL via email at info@hogl.rw.