Pre-Implementation Mission for the Accelerating Sustainable and Clean Energy Access Transformation in Rwanda (ASCENT-Rwanda, P180575) Implementation Support Mission for the Analyses to Improve Energy Access and Operational and Financial Performance of Energy Services Delivery in Rwanda (PASA, P177429) March 5 – 15, 2024 Aide Memoire I. INTRODUCTION 1. The World Bank (WB)’s Energy team led by Yabei Zhang (Senior Energy Specialist), Arun Singh (Energy Specialist), and Clementine Umugwaneza (Energy Specialist) visited Kigali from March 5 – 15, 2024 to conduct a pre-implementation mission for the Accelerating Sustainable and Clean Energy Access Transformation in Rwanda (ASCENT-Rwanda, Credit No. 7461-RW and Credit No. 7460-RW, P180575) and an implementation support mission for the Analyses to Improve Energy Access and Operational and Financial Performance of Energy Services Delivery in Rwanda (PASA, P177429). The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) joined the ASCENT mission virtually. The missions objectives for each project were as below: (i) ASCENT-Rwanda: To review progress towards meeting effectiveness conditions and implementation readiness. (ii) PASA: To conduct a stakeholder workshop to present the key findings from the productive use of energy study and assess progress of other studies. The WB expresses its appreciation for the courtesies received, support, and cooperation accorded by authorities of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN), the Ministry of Infrastructure (MININFRA), the Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD), the Rwanda Energy Group (REG), the Energy Development Corporation Limited (EDCL), the Energy Utility Corporation Limited (EUCL), and other stakeholders. 2. This Aide Memoire was discussed at the wrap-up meeting held on March 15, 2024, chaired by Mr. Fidele Abimana, Permanent Secretary at MININFRA, and the final version of the Aide Memoire was endorsed by the WB management. The list of officials met and the WB mission team is included in Annex 2. The next implementation support mission is expected to take place in September 2024. II. PROJECT DATA Table 1: Key Project Data ASCENT 300 Project IDA Amount (millions, USD) 100 AIIB Co-Financing Amount (million, USD) 0 Total Disbursement (millions, USD) November 28, 2023 Approval Date April 12, 2024 Effectiveness Date December 31, 2030 Closing Date III. IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS AND KEY FINDINGS ASCENT Rwanda 3. Effectiveness conditions. The project has met the effectiveness conditions and declared effectiveness on April 12, 2024. Among the key conditions, the legal opinion was submitted on April 11, 2024. The revised Project Implementation Manual (PIM) was submitted for review on March 28, 1 2024 and clearance was provided on April 11, 2024. The subsidiary agreements with EDCL and with BRD were submitted on April 11, 2024. The updated Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) has been cleared by the WB. 4. Implementation readiness - EDCL. For the recruitment of the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) staff (17 positions), EDCL submitted updated terms of reference (ToR) to the WB for review. To attract competent candidates, salaries of EDCL PIU staff will be adjusted to align with the Single Project Implementation Unit (SPIU)’s salary scale and ensure offering competitive packages. On procurement, EDCL has prepared five bidding documents of Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts and related contracts of supervision consultants. The Systematic Tracking of Exchanges in Procurement (STEP) has been set up for the project, and EDCL will submit the procurement plan and the bidding documents through STEP. It was noted that the Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIAs) and Environmental & Social (E&S) sections of the Standard Procurement Documents are not yet completed and will be updated by April 30, 2024 after the ESMF approval. The project is forecasted to disburse at least $20 million in FY25 and the PIUs are requested to accelerate the implementation pace by prioritizing finalization and submission of the five EPC procurement packages to the STEP by June 30, 2024. 5. Implementation readiness – BRD. BRD is expected to submit their disbursement condition, the Operations Manual (OM), by May 31, 2024. There is a new results-based financing window, Productive Use of Energy (PUE). A PUE workshop was conducted on March 12th during the mission to present the preliminary findings from a PUE study financed by the WB as well as the pilot financed by SEforALL. The study will inform the PUE component design. A follow-up meeting was organized among the MININFRA, BRD, and the WB to discuss and agree on the PUE key design elements on April 8, 2024. For the recruitment of the BRD PIU staff, the Bank has cleared the ToR for the Environmental Risk Management Specialist and shared the comments for the ToR for the Social Risk Management Specialist. BRD submitted the updated ToR addressing the WB's comments on April 15, 2024. 6. AIIB Co-finance. AIIB approved $100 million co-financing to ASCENT-Rwanda on March 25, 2024. 7. ASCENT Multiphase Programmatic Approach program. The mission highlighted that ASCENT-Rwanda is part of the regional ASCENT Multiphase Programmatic Approach (MPA) Program. There will be many exchange and learning opportunities under the program. The first batch of approved projects includes Rwanda, Tanzania, Somalia, San Tome and Principe, and two regional projects. One is the regional knowledge platform led by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), which will provide opportunities for cross-country learning particularly on data management and carbon finance. The other is the regional financing facility led by the Trade and Development Bank (TDB), and it will provide opportunities to leverage private financing for distributed renewable energy and clean cooking. 8. Impact evaluation. The project was selected for the World Bank AFE-DIME Batch Preparation Impact Evaluation workshop to be held in Cape Town from May 20-24, 2024. Up to three representatives from the PIU will be invited to participate. Through the workshop, the participants will be able to learn how to integrate global evidence into project designs and apply technologies and tools in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and impact evaluation. The workshop will foster cross-country project learning and design a learning agenda that will include targeted “trial-and-adopt” learning approaches to help maximize development. PASA 9. National Electrification Plan (NEP). Progress on preparation of the new NEP for Rwanda was discussed with REG and MININFRA, and the following decisions were taken: i. Investment decisions for the new NEP. Final year for 100% access will be 2028. Required financing for 100% to be allocated equally across all years (e.g., $200m per year if total required financing is $800m). ii. Geographic prioritization: Districts with lower access rates to be prioritized. 2 iii. Data from existing financing: EDCL will provide information from existing financing allocation under the Rwanda Universal Energy Access Program (RUEAP) and ASCENT as well as target connections under the program. The model will reflect this information. iv. Modeling scenarios. The NEP will present results based on scenarios including/excluding the land-use masterplan and including/excluding mini-grids (i.e., four scenarios). Total investment costs and average cost per connection for all scenarios will be presented. The model will include the cost of off-grid electrification assuming a weighted average for costs of Tier 1 and Tier 2 systems, with an assumed distribution of the two tiers. Densification costs will be included in the total investment cost. v. Update of GIS database. The existing network geospatial database reflects about 60% of the actual low voltage/medium voltage (LV/MV) infrastructure. This means that the upcoming version of the NEP will be outdated. The consultant for updating customer mapping is under procurement. The exercise is expected to be complete in 2025, following which REG will update the geospatial layers and release another version of the NEP. It is crucial to ensure that REG team has enough training to update the geospatial layers and the model by then. vi. Training. WB will discuss with the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) International and REG about additional training to improve REG team’s capacity to update the geospatial model. 10. Productive uses of energy (PUE). The draft executive summary of the PUE study including the pilot findings was circulated to the key stakeholders before the PUE workshop conducted on March 12, 2024. Based on the workshop feedback, the consultant is preparing the final draft of the report which will be circulated by early April 2024. The study is expected to be finalized by end of June 2024. IV. PROCUREMENT, ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL RISK MANAGEMENT AND GENDER ASCENT Rwanda 11. Procurement. Procurement rating is Moderately Satisfactory since the project has not commenced yet and implementing agencies are yet to implement the procurement activities. The STEP has been set up for the project. However, the implementing agencies have encountered challenges to upload the procurement plans through STEP. The World Bank team is committed to resolve the issue before April 30, 2024. Meanwhile, the WB team has started the technical review of the procurement packages submitted offline and provided the first round of technical feedback. 12. The Environmental and Social Risk Management. E&S risk management performance rating is satisfactory since the project has not commenced yet. The environmental and social risk classification of the project remains substantial. The status and the Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) instruments that are effectiveness condition were discussed during the mission. The ESMF is the only pending document, and it is in the final stages of approval from the WB. EDCL and BRD were recommended to promptly initiate the recruitment process for additional E&S staff who will collaborate with the existing Energy Access and Quality Improvement Project (EAQIP, P172594) team after project effectiveness to ensure that the project's environmental and social requirements are met from the outset. 13. Gender. The mission confirmed that the ASCENT Gender Action Plan (GAP) was completed on time. It was agreed that the GAP will remain a living document for a couple of years of ASCENT implementation to let EDCL review the GAP whenever appropriate and ensure the gender equality focus areas are addressing diversified gender equality issues in EDCL. Represented by REG, EDCL became a founding partner of Women in Energy Network – Africa (WEN-Africa) in February 2024. The gender equality list of commitments submitted by REG to partner with WEN-Africa covers some of the gender activities under ASCENT. EDCL, in collaboration with REG, is highly interested in implementing an internship program for females in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) backgrounds. REG has prior experience in supporting internship programs targeting female and male 3 university graduates with STEM backgrounds. Discussion on identifying funds and resources to support the program and designing a tailored internship program has started. V. NEXT STEPS AND AGREED ACTIONS Table 2: List of agreed actions Actions Responsible Due date 1 Submit the legal opinion MINECOFIN April 11, 2024 (completed) 2 Submit the subsidiary agreements MINECOFIN, BRD, April 11, 2024 (completed) EDCL 3 Review/clear the updated PIM WB April 11, 2024 (completed) 4 Agree on the PUE key design elements MININFRA, BRD, WB April 8, 2024 (completed) 5 Submit the updated ToR for the Social Risk BRD April 15, 2024 (completed) Management Specialist 6 Resolve the STEP access issue WB April 30, 2024 7 Submit the Operations Manuel BRD May 31, 2024 8 Finalize/submit 5 EPC procurement packages EDCL June 30, 2024 4 Annex 1: List of agreed actions from the September 2023 mission Actions Responsible Due date Component 1 - Increasing Access to Grid Electricity 1 Review the progress under RUEAP projects and provide the REG October 13, 2023 expected start date for ASCENT projects for each district (Completed) 2 Provide basis for the cost per connection based on the past REG September 25, 2023 projects with inflation adjustment (Completed) 3 Provide the expected number of connections (including new REG September 25, 2023 areas and fill-in connections) based on the funding (Completed) allocation for each district Component 2 - Enhancing the Reliability of Electricity Service 4 Share the expected results from the Component 2 including (i) REG October 13, 2023 list of hardware installations/upgrades (e.g., number of new (Completed) and upgraded substations, number of switching substations, number of transformers, etc.); (ii) additional demand/supply enabled; (iii) expected improvement in frequency and duration of interruptions at specific substations; (iv) number of substations integrated into SCADA/DMS Component 3a - Increasing access to off-grid electrification 5 Provide the expected number of connections based on the BRD September 25, 2023 funding allocation (Completed) 6 Conduct preliminary market sounding, demand estimation and BRD October 30, 2023 affordability assessments for the enhanced support for higher (TOR finalized; capacity systems in consultation with OSCs study to be launched in April 2024) Component 3b - Increasing access to clean cooking solutions 7 Share the list of approved technologies and their sales data based BRD October 20, 2023 on the EAQIP performance Subcomponent 3c - Increasing access to technologies for PUE 8 Review the preliminary report on high potential PUE MININFRA October 20, 2023 technologies and provide comments and agreement on the next steps to complete the PUE assessment fast. Subcomponent 3e. Increasing access to clean cooking at public institutions 9 Provide updated analysis on capital and operational expenditures MININFRA September 22, 2023 related to the adoption of LPG and electric cooking (Completed) technologies 10 The Government of Rwanda will issue a letter confirming its MININFRA, October 20, 2023 commitment to support the beneficiary schools, ensuring they Ministry of have sufficient budget for the operational sustainability of Education installed clean cooking solutions Component 4 - Technical Assistance, Institutional Capacity Building, and Implementation Support 11 Share the Component 4 funding allocation per PIU MININFRA October 13, 2023 (Completed) Monitoring and Evaluation 12 Provide the indicative results indicators and indicative target for MININFRA, October 13, 2023 each subproject with disaggregated annual targets BRD (Partially Completed) Procurement 13 Submit complete procurement self-assessment with the WB BRD October 13, 2023 (Completed) 14 Submit the updated PPSD and procurement plan by EDCL October 13, 2023 incorporating BRD as the project implementing agency (Completed) 15 Submit the updated self-assessment based on the WB’s feedback EDCL October 13, 2023 5 (Completed) Gender 16 Submit the latest female workforce employment data of off-grid BRD, EDCL October 13, 2023 solar and clean cooking companies (Completed) 17 Submit proposed gender indicators for activities under EDCL, BRD October 13, 2023 component 3 (Completed) 18 Conduct internal discussion on the possibility of designing an EDCL October 20, 2023 energy sector female engineers’ internship program under REG Safeguards 19 Share revised ESCP, SEP, RPF, LMP for the WB’s approval EDCL October 4, 2023 (Completed) 20 Share revised ESMF for the WB’s approval EDCL October 9, 2023 (Completed) 21 Prepare a brief analysis and summary of the BRD’s current BRD October 20, 2023 system's capabilities in managing the ASCENT project activity for inclusion in the ESMF 6 Annex 2: The list of participants Name Organization Title Fidele Abimana MININFRA Permanent Secretary Charles Kalinda MININFRA Head of Policy and Planning Jean Bosco Mugiraneza MININFRA Ag. Director General for Energy Marion Nirere MININFRA Coordinator, eSWAP Secretariat Peace Kalisa MININFRA External links and Donor Coordination Officer, eSWAP Secretariat Gen Cesar MININFRA Chief Technical Advisor Martin Asiimwe MININFRA M&E Specialist Steven Bihinda MININFRA Senior Engineer Diana Ngangure MININFRA Energy Policy Analyst Sam Brown Mwesigye MININFRA Legal Specialist Armand Zingiro REG CEO Claver Gakwavu EUCL Ag. MD Felix Gakuba EDCL MD Uwera Rutagarama EDCL Director, Primary and Social Energies Eric Mihigo EDCL RUEAP Program Manager Emmanuel Nkurikiye EDCL EAQIP Project Coordinator Oreste Niyonsaba EDCL Manager, Social Energies Alain Patience Niyibizi EDCL Social Energy Specialist Apophia Boramungu EDCL Senior Environmental and Social Safeguards Specialist Beatrice Uwizeye EDCL Gender Specialist Juliene Mwiseneza EDCL Gender Specialist Willy Uwizeye EDCL Social Safeguard Specialist Christine Uwajeneza EDCL Senior Procurement Specialist Silas Mugire EDCL Senior Financial Specialist Gentille Umushashi EDCL Procurement Specialist Sixbert Munyawera EDCL Procurement Specialist Emmanuel Yiyitire EDCL M&E Specialist Joseph Erasme Emera EDCL Environmentalist Jean Pierre Musabyimana EDCL Environmental and Social Safeguard Specialist Zacharie Nzayiramya EDCL Accountant Annick Ingabire EDCL Access Project Manager Harriet Mulisa EDCL Senior Contract Management Specialist Esdras Rugira EDCL Director, Planning Department Theogene Musoni EDCL Social Energy Specialist Willem Boers EDCL Social Development Expert Etienne Gasasira EDCL Access Project Manager Annick Ingabire EDCL Access Project Manager Pascal Ntibaziyaremye EDCL Senior Corporate Services Specialist 7 Name Organization Title Valens Habineza EDCL Social Energy Specialist Elijah Asiimwe MINECOFIN Legal Specialist Liliane Igihozo BRD Head of SPIU Philbert Dusenge BRD Project Coordinator EAQIP Clean Cooking Umesh Acharya BRD Senior Financial Advisor Alida Ikuzwe BRD Manager Energy Portfolio William Mutsinzi BRD Financial Officer Rubis Ruti Kanangire BRD Environmental Specialist Jean Paul Moise Niyonkuru BRD GRM Officer Lidya Melessaw Emining Business Development Mohammed Hatim Emining Project Manager Jean d'Amour Ntibitura YES SHOP. Ltd Chairperson Augustin Gasana NG&NG Trading Company Managing Director Faustin Ahishakiye Stellar Engineering Ltd Managing Director Jean Bosco Nsengiyumva Green Hanga Ltd Managing Director Venuste Muhamyankaka Sun Alliance Managing Director Honore Nzayisenga Ruliba Clays ltd Project Manager Jean Damascene Ndahimana Tahacel Company Project Manager Sabin Murererehe Entreprise Multiservice Ltd Managing Director Marcel Sendanyoye SRM Corporation ltd Managing Director Paul Museveni AESG Ltd Business Development Sylvie Isingizwe AESG Ltd Market Facilitator Jean Bosco Tuyishime Digital Creations Ltd Chief Operation Officer Elyse Mukundente Digital Creations Ltd Accountant Executive Evariste Gasirikare EBMS Managing Director Rudodo Ndizeye EBMS Operation Annah Muhorakeye AESG Project Manager Fabrice Ntakirutimana Tembo Africa Ltd Managing Director Winny Muberanyana Green Shelter Ltd Managing Director Emmanuel Prince Ndayambaje Green Shelter Ltd Chief Operation Officer Lindsay Umalla Clean Cooking Alliance Senior Portfolio Manager Suzanne Shaw AIIB Senior Infrastructure Economist Tione Mtalimanja AIIB Senior Investment Operations Specialist Veit Goehringer GIZ Energy Specialist Obed Hodari Inshuti Gisa GIZ Prakash Ghimire SNV Energy Sector Leader Arun Singh WB Energy Specialist, Co-TTL Yabei Zhang WB Senior Energy Specialist, TTL Clementine Umugwaneza WB Energy Specialist Aalok Raj Pandey WB Energy Specialist, Co-TTL Dan Radack WB Senior Carbon Finance Specialist Sreenivas Devarakonda WB Senior Procurement Specialist Yacob Wondimkun Endaylalu WB Senior Environmental Engineer 8 Name Organization Title Chantal Umulinga K WB Social Safeguard Specialist Bennett Gordon WB Payment Specialist, Consultant Meron Tadesse Techane WB Senior Financial Management Specialist Jacqueline Bugunya WB Financial Management Specialist, Consultant Richard Mulama WB Financial Sector Specialist, Consultant Simon Karunditu WB Senior Financial Advisor, Consultant Janet Umugwaneza WB Environmental Safeguards Specialist, Consultant Ximena Rosio Herbas Ramirez WB Senior Environmental Specialist Meskerem Legesse WB Gender Specialist, Consultant Belinda Mutesi WB Program Assistant Hyun Jin Choi WB Energy Specialist, Consultant Almero Grey WB Energy Specialist, Consultant Anne-Sophie Zirah WB Carbon Finance Specialist, Consultant Tanay Balantrapu WB Impact Evaluation Specialist John Ashton Loeser WB Impact Evaluation Economist  Fatoumata Cissé WB Field Coordinator, Consultant Xiaoming Zhang WB DIME Consultant 9