- Evaluation Plan:
- 2017-2022, Lebanon
- Evaluation Type:
- Final Project
- Planned End Date:
- 11/2018
- Completion Date:
- 11/2018
- Status:
- Completed
- Management Response:
- No
- Evaluation Budget(US $):
- 20,000
Small Decentralised Renewable Energy Project (DREG) Project, Lebanon
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Title | Small Decentralised Renewable Energy Project (DREG) Project, Lebanon | ||||||||||||||
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Atlas Project Number: | 00073116 | ||||||||||||||
Evaluation Plan: | 2017-2022, Lebanon | ||||||||||||||
Evaluation Type: | Final Project | ||||||||||||||
Status: | Completed | ||||||||||||||
Completion Date: | 11/2018 | ||||||||||||||
Planned End Date: | 11/2018 | ||||||||||||||
Management Response: | Yes | ||||||||||||||
Focus Area: |
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Corporate Outcome and Output (UNDP Strategic Plan 2018-2021) |
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SDG Goal |
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SDG Target |
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Evaluation Budget(US $): | 20,000 | ||||||||||||||
Source of Funding: | Project | ||||||||||||||
Evaluation Expenditure(US $): | 11,570 | ||||||||||||||
Joint Programme: | No | ||||||||||||||
Joint Evaluation: | No | ||||||||||||||
Evaluation Team members: |
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GEF Evaluation: | Yes
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Key Stakeholders: | Ministry of Energy and Water | ||||||||||||||
Countries: | LEBANON |
Lessons | |
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Findings | |
1. | Adaptive management and Feedback from M&E used for adaptive management
Tag: Effectiveness Knowledge management Monitoring and Evaluation Ownership Project and Programme management |
2. | 5.1.1 Attainment of results– Outcome 1: Investments in decentralized renewable energy (RE) power generation increased The Outcome 1 of the project, was focused on supporting actual investments in the pilots for DREG and sustaining market growth. The pilot projects were aimed to demonstrate the application of different RE technologies (PV, wind, small hydro and/or biogas and a combination) for decentralized power generation. The first targeted investors included private businesses and industrial complexes, universities, tourist resorts, bakeries, etc., all of which depend on continuous and reliable electricity supply. Tag: Renewable energy Effectiveness Private Sector |
3. | 5.2 Relevance
The DREG project and the activities planned within the project are highly relevant to the development needs of Lebanon. This is considering that the project addresses the issue of availability of sustainable energy to all at one end, while on the other hand, it addresses the issue of pressure on the economy due to the subsidies provided to the energy sector. The project is in line with the UNDP operational programs for Lebanon. This is explained further in the following paragraphs. Tag: Renewable energy Relevance Country Government UN Agencies Agenda 2030 |
4. | 5.3 Effectiveness & Efficiency
Tag: Emission Reduction Renewable energy Effectiveness Efficiency |
5. | 5.4 Country ownership
Tag: Relevance Ownership Country Government |
6. | 5.5 Mainstreaming
Tag: Renewable energy Sustainability Gender Mainstreaming Country Government |
7. | 5.6 Sustainability
Tag: Renewable energy Sustainability Global Environment Facility fund Policies & Procedures |
8. | 5.7 Impact Tag: Environmental impact assessment Impact |
9. | 4.2 Partnership arrangements
The Ministry of Energy and Water/LCEC was one of the ‘implementing partners’ for the project. Tag: Partnership Country Government Private Sector |
10. | 4.4 Monitoring and evaluation: design at entry
Tag: Effectiveness Monitoring and Evaluation Programme/Project Design Project and Programme management |
11. | 4.6 UNDP and Implementing Partner implementation / execution coordination, and operational issues
Tag: Implementation Modality Knowledge management Project and Programme management Country Government |
12. | Output 1.2 The current thinking within the national counterparts (government agencies) within Lebanon also favours private sector investment for RE. For example, MEW/LCEC has released Lebanon’s National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP) which outlines a vision for a tangible RE target by the year 2030. The NREAP envisages utility-scale RE projects to be financed exclusively through private investments. Lebanon’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), submitted by the Government as part of its commitment under the Paris Agreement, stipulates a 15% RE target (power and heat demand) by 2030, which can reach 20% with proper support. The policy and financial instruments proposed to be used to facilitate private sector financing for RE are;
Tag: Renewable energy Country Government Private Sector |
13. | 5.1.2 Attainment of results – Outcome 2: An enforced supportive policy and regulatory environment for attracting investments for privately owned, grid-connected power generation by RE sources Tag: Renewable energy Country Government Capacity Building Institutional Strengthening Private Sector |
14. | In terms of the performance of the first indicator for Outcome 3, the project regularly produced the reports on an annual basis. Although, the contents were mainly for solar PV. This is largely due to the fact that the level of market development of solar PV in Lebanon is far ahead than the other RE technologies. The project introduced the required quality control measures for all the pilot projects. The beneficiaries showed satisfaction with the PV systems’ operation and performance. Tag: Emission Reduction Renewable energy Effectiveness |
15. | 5.1.5 Global environmental benefits The global environmental benefits of the project are the reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) to help the global community address climate change. The project document stipulates the project objective as ‘Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by the removal of barriers to widespread application of decentralized renewable energy based powerThe target values for direct GHG emission reduction was 35,000 tons of CO2 equivalent over the lifetime of 20 years of the demonstration projects. Details of the projected GHG emissions and the corresponding set of assumptions were provided in Table 20. The projected GHG emission reductions as given in Table 20 are on the conservative side due to two reasons. Firstly, due to the fact that the emission factor considered is that for the grid, whereas in actual practise the pilot projects would be replacing the small diesel generator-based power generated by the beneficiaries and secondly due to use of a dynamic baseline emission factor, which reduces over a period of time. Indirect GHG emission reductions due to the DREG project will happen over a period of time as result of sustained market growth due to: enabling conditions created by the project for continued investments in small decentralized RE generation capacity. There will also be indirect GHG reduction impact due to utility-scale RE development. generation’. Tag: Emission Reduction Renewable energy Effectiveness |
16. | 4.5 Monitoring and evaluation: implementation
Tag: Effectiveness Monitoring and Evaluation Project and Programme management |
Recommendations | |
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1 | Recommendation 1: The project design as presented in the ‘Project Document’ did specify the expected set of Outputs for each of the Outcome of the project. However, the expected outputs did not find their required place in the log-frame of the project. Indicators were provided at the outcome level, whereas the work planning of the project was done at the Output level. The monitoring (PIRs) of the progress of the project was done as per the results framework of the project. As all the activities / Outputs did not got covered in the results framework, some of the important activities (as provided in the Outputs) gets missed out in the monitoring / PIRs. It is recommended that for the future project design, the Indicators in the results frame-work be fixed at both the Outcome level and the Output level |
2 | Recommendation 3: The project has not been able to support other DREG technologies (other than solar PV). As a result, it is a missed opportunity to showcase/promote different RE technologies. It is recommended that in case of involvement of multiple technologies/sectors, the project design should specify different technologies/sectors to be demonstrated (by pilots), and should have provisions for a different set of efforts which would be required to promote/demonstrate such technologies. Different types and levels of technical support are required for promotions/demonstration of different type of RE technologies. Any future project design for the promotion/demonstration of DREG should either be technology specific or should clearly state the technologies to be used for different pilot projects. Recommendation 4: The project design had provisions like technical support, grants and soft loans for supporting the implementation of the DREG pilot projects. The kind and extent of support was uniform all across the RE technologies. It is recommended that the project design should also have technology-specific provisions for supporting the kind of RE technology to be demonstrated by way of pilots. For example, for the technologies which are not presently demonstrated in the country, there can be a provision to have a study tour of the prospective beneficiaries to the countries where such technologies are already in use. In addition, for the pilot projects based on RE technologies where sufficient technical expertise may not be available within the country, it would help to take on board ‘International Technical Experts’. Recommendation 7: Whenever, an opportunity for a new RE project in Lebanon arises, the project design may support formulation of regulations and establishment of the electricity regulatory authority. This will not only help decentralised renewable energy generation, but will also help the establishment of Independent Power Producers (including those for RE). |
3 | Recommendation 5: There are some very good case studies from the DREG project to demonstrate financial feasibility of solar PV technology (particularly considering the reduction in the capital cost of solar PV). This may be used to achieve replication of the solar PV on a larger scale. |
4 | Recommendation 6: The project has prepared quality standards for a number of solar PV equipment which are already with the government for approval by way of a decree. Efforts may be continued to achieve this. |
5 | Evaluation Recommendation 8: Soft loans from the central bank are a very effective fiscal instrument for the promotion of RE technologies. However, it takes a considerable amount of time for approval of the soft loans, thereby delaying the projects. There is a need to optimise the process at the level of the central bank so that the overall time taken is reduced. The government counterpart may explore the possibilities to optimise the process at the level of the central bank |
6 | Recommendation 2: The three indicators for the project objective (GHG emission reduction, Capacity of RE, and RE generation) were very closely interrelated. Thus, the additional indicators did not serve any purpose. Considering that the objective of the project on the one hand was “Reducing greenhouse gas emissions” while on the other it was, “removal of barriers to widespread application of decentralized renewable energy based power generation”, an indicator which indicates the removal of barriers or widespread application of DREG would have been more appropriate (instead of capacity of RE). Having said that, it is appreciated that having an appropriate indicator to indicate removal of barrier or wide spreading of DREG in itself is a big challenge. It is recommended that to the extent possible, the indicators of the ‘Project Objective’ should be independent of each other. |