Call for EOI: Market Assessment on Biogas

Call for Expression of Interest (EOI):

Market Assessment on Biogas – SNV Vietnam

Background

About SNV

SNV is a not-for-profit international development organization. Founded in the Netherlands in 1965, we have built a long-term country presence in over 24 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Our global team of local and international advisors works with local partners to equip communities, businesses, and organizations with the tools, knowledge, and connections they need to increase their incomes and gain access to basic services - empowering them to break the cycle of poverty and guide their own development.

SNV has been working in Vietnam since 1995, and currently has over 60 national and international staff. SNV Vietnam’s team works hand-in-hand with communities, government agencies, and businesses in more than 40 provinces, including the remotest and poorest areas of the country. We operate from a country office in Hanoi as well as project offices in Ho Chi Minh City, Tra Vinh, Da Lat and Buon Ma Thuot. Our work focuses on three sectors – Agri-Food, Water and Renewable Energy.

About the BioLive project

In 2002, SNV brought its experience in biodigester dissemination to Vietnam. SNV’s entry marked the start of the Biogas Programme (BP) and 18 years of biodigester market development. The BP initially received financial support from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was later co-financed by the EnDev organization. With its team of Vietnamese experts, the Biogas Programme and its spin-off projects resulted in the installation of over 290,000 household biodigesters.

Following up on the results of previous projects, SNV is implementing the project “Biogas Program for Low-Emission Livestock Sector in Vietnam - BioLive” for the period 2021-2024. The aim is to continue supporting the livestock sector in finding small-scale biogas solutions to provide clean, safe, and low-cost energy for smallholder farms. The project will further promote the biogas market for the livestock sector to create rural employment, contribute to rural development, protect the environment, and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the livestock sector, supporting Vietnam's goal of developing a circular agriculture sector.

The government is steering the shift from smallholder livestock farming to large-scale commercial farming to enhance investment in high-tech solutions, reduce environmental impacts, and increase economic efficiency. Over the past 10 years, commercial livestock farms have been growing increasingly. In parallel with small-scale projects like the one mentioned above, SNV is also implementing the "Bio-energy for Circular Agriculture - BeCA" project for the period 2021-2024 to scaling up sustainable electricity generation at large and medium-sized pig farms using state-of-the-art equipment. Critically, it will also contribute to Vietnam’s National Determined Contribution (NDC) by reducing GHG emissions in the growing livestock sector and by decreasing the national electrical grid dependence on coal-fired generators.

SNV continues to lead the expansion of biogas projects to accelerate the biogas market, enhance the value of bio-slurry and bio-energy, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the livestock sector. Updating and assessing the development and transition of the biogas market is essential for SNV to design effective and concrete projects. For this task, SNV seeks to recruit an independent consultant/firm to develop the biogas market assessment.

For more information on SNV, please refer to our website: www.snv.org

Objectives of the assignment

The objective of this assignment is to assess the current development and transition of the biogas market. This assessment aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of market trends, opportunities, and challenges, and to evaluate the effectiveness of existing biogas projects. 

Detailed Tasks

1. Market Overview:

• Market Landscape: Provide an overview of the current biogas market, including market size, growth trends, fields of technology application, financing mechanisms, and key players.
• The overview of existing biodigester/biogas and related by-products projects last 5 years: including challenges and effectiveness.
• Technology Trends: Examine advancements in biogas technology and their impact on market dynamics. For example, what types of biodigester companies and technologies are available in the market (household and commercial scale)? Price point?

2. Market Dynamics:

• Opportunities: potential scale of market over the next 3-5 years. Examine transition trends related to the transition from small-scale to large-scale biogas projects and any shifts in market focus or technology adoption.
• Challenges: Assess major challenges and barriers to market growth, such as technological limitations, financial constraints, or regulatory issues.

3. Stakeholder Analysis:

• Key Stakeholders: Identify and profile key stakeholders in the biogas market, including government bodies, private companies, NGOs, associations and the developers targeting biogas sector, etc.
• Stakeholder Needs: Assess the needs and expectations of different stakeholders and how they influence market development. For example:

1. Biodigester suppliers: How are they finding sales? What has changed? Continue in the business? Key barriers and opportunities? Sales potential? What support do they desire/require?
2. Customers: What do they value about the biodigester? Is it affordable? Is it a smart investment? What do they consider when thinking about purchasing a biodigester?
3. Environmental service companies related to biodigester technology (wastewater treatment services, solid water separation suppliers, by-products treatment/producing service (bio-slurry, bio methane, …) etc.): How is the ecosystem of businesses operating in the waste treatment processes related to biogas technology functioning? How do they collaborate and interact with each other? What barriers do they face? What do they need to develop their business within this ecosystem in order to provide integrated and effective solutions for their clients?
4. Provincial authorities: How do provinces view investment in household and/or commercial scale biodigesters? Which provinces should the project focus on finding partnership with of each scale?

4. Regulatory and Policy Review:

• Current Policies: Review existing policies and regulations, including government and local strategies on agricultural development, energy transition, waste management, emission reduction, carbon market etc., that affect the biodigester/biogas market.
• Policy Impact: Analyze the impact of these policies on market growth and development, and identify any gaps or areas for improvement. Some main points to focus on for assessment include:

1. National Targeting and Strategy: What are MARD's vision and plans regarding development of the household and/or commercial biodigester sector?
2. Provincial Targeting and Strategy: Which provinces are best suited to a household scale biodigester program vs commercial scale Bio generator support? How does provincial strategy align with the continued development of the biogas sector?
3. Climate Agenda: How do biodigesters fit into the Government's emissions reduction strategy (NDCs, Article 6, etc)? How may the climate agenda influence the development of the biogas sector in Vietnam? 

5. Data Collection and Analysis:

• Data Gathering: Collect relevant data from market reports, publications, and interviews with key stakeholders.
• Analysis: Analyze the collected data to identify trends, market opportunities, and challenges.

6. Reporting:

• Market Assessment Report: Prepare a comprehensive report detailing the findings of the market assessment, including an overview of market trends, opportunities, challenges, and stakeholder insights.
• Recommendations: Offer recommendations based on the analysis to support strategic planning and decision-making in the biogas sector.

For more details on the Expression of Interest process, submission requirements, and evaluation details, please see corresponding sections below:

Selection Process

SNV will review all EOIs received in accordance with the guidelines and criteria in this solicitation. SNV reserves the right to exclude any EOIs that do not meet the guidelines. Please note that SNV is unable to provide detailed feedback to those EOIs that are not selected.

• Step 1: SNV will shortlist selected EOIs and unsuccessful respondents will be notified. Successful applicants will be contacted by SNV.
• Step 2: SNV will contact the selected consultants for full proposals and contract with the selected consultants.

Protection of Information

We request that EOI responses be free of any intellectual property that the applicant wishes to protect. Should offerors wish to include proprietary intellectual property that they believe would be helpful for SNV, please note the proprietary nature of such information. Costing information will be kept confidential and will not be shared beyond SNV.

Issuance of this Call for Expression of Interest does not constitute a commitment, award, or engagement on the part of SNV nor does it commit SNV to any future commitment or engagement.

Note: SNV reserves the right to change or cancel this requirement in the solicitation process at any time.