School Solar Program Design
Program design for solarizing public schools, including site selection criteria, system typologies, implementation model, and M&E structure.
- Client type
- Government / development partner
- Decision supported
- Program approval and resource mobilization.
- 01
Designed a multi-year program to solarize public schools, with a defensible site selection method and standard system typologies.
- 02
Built procurement strategy and M&E structure alongside the technical framework, so the program could be financed, contracted, and reported as one coherent package.
- 03
Roadmap supported the client's approval submission and donor engagement for resource mobilization.
Context
The client wanted to move beyond one-off school electrification pilots into a structured program. Earlier installations had been technically uneven, hard to compare, and difficult to report on. Approval and funding required a single document tying site selection, technical standards, procurement, and M&E together.
Approach
We mapped the candidate school portfolio against access, enrolment, grid status, and operational sustainability indicators, then defined three system typologies covering classroom lighting, administrative loads, and ICT/teacher accommodation tiers. The procurement strategy was designed around batched lots aligned with typologies, with pre-qualified EPC pools and standard performance clauses.
Findings
The biggest risk to program durability was not technical — it was the absence of an operational budget after handover. We built an O&M responsibility matrix into the program design, with explicit roles for the line ministry, the school administration, and a contracted regional service provider.
Recommendations
A phased rollout roadmap, a site selection scoring tool, three reference designs with bills of quantity, a procurement playbook, and an M&E framework with site-level reporting templates and quarterly portfolio dashboards.
- Site selection needs a written, scoreable method — not a shortlist negotiated in a meeting.
- Typologies make procurement comparable and reporting honest.
- An O&M responsibility matrix is the difference between a program and a pile of installations.
Continue through the evidence.
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Funding and procurement preparation.
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Contracting and implementation readiness.
Owner's Engineer Support for Health Facility Solarization
Safe project acceptance and operational readiness.
Let's build reliable, sustainable solar solutions together.
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