USER S MANUAL
IRENA 2016 This manual was prepared by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) to provide comprehensive, step-by-step guidance to users of the web-based Sustainable Energy Marketplace platform. IRENA s Sustainable Energy Marketplace (marketplace.irena.org) facilitates connections between projects and investors, thereby helping to tap the enormous growth potential for renewable energy in developing markets. The Marketplace connects project developers, governments, financiers, and service/technology providers through a searchable, easy-to-use, web-based platform. Through this platform, IRENA and other partners aim to actively facilitate selected projects. Marketplace portals are initially available for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, with coverage set to expand during 2016 to all developing countries. Disclaimer: This manual is provided as is. Neither IRENA nor any of its officials or agents makes any representations or warranties, express or implied, or assumes any liability for the use of this manual or its contents. The information herein is not an endorsement of any project, financing entity, service provider, or technology supplier. The presentation and designations employed do not imply the expression of any opinion on the part of IRENA concerning the legal status or the delimitation of frontiers or boundaries of any region, country, territory, city or area or of its authorities.
Contents 1 Homepage... 2 1.1 Caribbean, Latin America and Africa Portal... 3 2 Registration... 6 2.1 Creating an account... 6 2.2 Registration... 8 Organisation information... 8 Project information... 10 Financing instrument... 14 Submitting for approval and acceptance to the marketplace... 16 3 Search Functions... 18 3.1 General Search... 18 3.2 Project Search... 20 3.3 Financing Instruments... 23 3.4 Service Provider Search, Technology Supplier Search and Organisation Search... 25 3.5 Country Search... 27 3.6 Save Alert and Export to Excel functions... 29 Save Alert... 29 Export to Excel... 31 4 Managing account... 32 4.1 Editing account... 32 4.2 Editing profile... 33 4.3 Deleting profile... 34 4.4 Contacting administrator... 35 4.5 Adding/removing type of user to the profile... 36 USER S MANUAL 1
1 Homepage Global Homepage The homepage shows a map of the world with the locations of all the projects available. Under the map are access tabs to three currently available portals: Caribbean Portal, Latin America Portal and Africa Portal. The user needs to click on one of these tabs to enter the respective marketplace. A visitor can register to any of the three portals. Currently, a separate registration is required for each portal, in case the user wants to register to more than one regional marketplace. 2 S U S T A I N A B L E E N E R G Y M A R K E T P L A C E
1.1 Caribbean, Latin America and Africa Portal Clicking the tab for any of the regional portals will open a similar page: Regional portal The first object to be noticed is the Google map at the center of the page, with summary data on the site indicating the current volume on the marketplace. The Google map will show the projects currently registered on the marketplace. A unregistered user you are able to view the location and names of the projects. The data on the left side of the map indicates the following: - Number of projects in the marketplace (currently registered projects) - Combined capacity of projects in the marketplace (total capacity of the projects looking for support on the platform, including only projects that indicated their capacity in terms of MW) - Total investment need (Total combined investment cost of the projects in the marketplace) On the right side of the map there are three sections: News, Event Calendar and the Project Navigator. - The News section offers news relating to renewable energy in the countries represented in the marketplace, collected from a large number of online magazines, as an RSS feed - The Event Calendar shows major events taking place around the world, related to sustainable energy investments in the region USER S MANUAL 3
- The Project Navigator is an additional tool from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) providing tools, templates and information for project developers. Link to the Project Navigator. On the left side of the map there are two sections: Menu and Latest Projects. The website menu, where links to all the general information of the website can be found, is structured in the following way: - Home - About o o o The Sustainable Energy Marketplace, general description of the platform. IRENA, general description of IRENA and its purpose. General description of potential partners of IRENA - Benefits for Users o Explains the benefits of the marketplace to different type of users: project owners, investors, host governments, suppliers of services and technology. - Media o o News Event Calendar 4 S U S T A I N A B L E E N E R G Y M A R K E T P L A C E
- Marketplace (available only to registered users) o o o o o o o General search; search tool using key words. Projects; search for projects using filters and key words. Financial instruments; search of financial instruments using filters and key words. Service providers; search for service providers using filters and key words. Technology suppliers; search for technology suppliers using filters and key words. Organisations; search for organisations using filters and key words. Countries; search for information related to a specific country represented in the marketplace. - User profile (available only for registered users; links to the profile page of the user) - Other marketplaces, where you can find the links to the global homepage or to the other regional portals. The Latest Projects section lists the most recent projects that have been added to the platform. If you click see more under this list, the webpage will direct you to the projects search, where all projects are listed (this function is available for registered users only). USER S MANUAL 5
2 Registration 2.1 Creating an account At the top right corner of the page is the login to the website. To register as a new user, use the new user? link under the login fields. Clicking the link opens the following page: Creating an account The page shown here is the pre-registration page for a user s profile. The applicant has to enter information on the following: - Organisation name Indicate the name of the entity you wish to register - Type of organisation Multiple choice list where you can register with one or more of the following profiles: Project owner; single choice among following types: o Governmental organisation/agency o Individual investor o Large company o Municipal organisation o NGO o Private project developer 6 S U S T A I N A B L E E N E R G Y M A R K E T P L A C E
o o SME Utility Financing entity; single choice among following types: o Bilateral Development Financing Institution o Commercial Bank o Governmental organisation/agency o Independent producer o Individual Investor o International Financing Institution o Municipal organisation o National Development Financial Institution o NGO o Private company o Private equity o Utility Service provider; single choice among following types: o Engineering/Technical Advisory o Legal Advisory o Financial Advisory o O&M contractor o EPC contractor o Environmental Advisory o Project development & management o Zoning and permit process advisory o (Other) specify in general description Technology supplier; single choice among following types: o Component suppliers o System providers/integrators Subsequently, the applicant has to insert login and contact details as follows: Register Login; the username you will use to enter into the marketplace Register Email; the email where you prefer to receive notifications from the Marketplace, and where upon registration you will receive your login details. The user has to accept the terms and conditions by ticking the box. In order to move to the actual registration form, the user has to click Send. The user will then receive an email at the email address entered. USER S MANUAL 7
2.2 Registration Once the account has been created, the user is directed to his/her profile page where he/she has to fill in the required information on his/her organisation, projects (if project owner) and/or financial instruments (if financing entity). Entity registration form Organisation information The user must provide the following information (*mandatory): General Information o Year of establishment (*) o Latest turnover (US$) o Employees o Phone number (*) o Fax o Email (*) o Website o Address (*) o City (*) o Country (*) 8 S U S T A I N A B L E E N E R G Y M A R K E T P L A C E
Contact person information: Can be confidential if so selected and will be visible only to IRENA General Description (*): Describe organisation's background and history, profile, structure and ownership, core activities and capabilities. Provide indications of the size and geographical presence of the organisation. Please indicate previous successfully closed projects, and other relevant experience and track record. Facilitation needs: Describe what kind of support your organisation is currently seeking. Service provider information (if applicable, *) Technology supplier information (if applicable, *) Brochure upload Once the information has been inserted, the user must click Save at the top right corner of the page. The profile will appear as the following: Entity profile page USER S MANUAL 9
Project information To register as project owner to the marketplace at least one project must be entered. This is done by clicking the Projects tab in the main profile and then clicking Add project : Add project button under the projects tab The following page opens: Project registration form 10 S U S T A I N A B L E E N E R G Y M A R K E T P L A C E
Once you open the form for the project data, the following information must be filled in (* mandatory): Name of Project (*) Capacity (*) Capacity unit (*) Total investment (*) Annual generation (*) Generation unit (*) Grid connection (*) Project ownership (*) Status of project (*) Expected start of construction (*) Expected start of operation (*) Land acquisition (*) Permits (*) Feasibility studies (*) Agreements (*) Financing process (*) Project level IRR Equity IRR Direct payback period Services currently sought Financing currently sought Financing plan (*) Available financing Project-level facilitation needs Project summary (*); this includes: o Project objective and structure Please specify the background, purpose and objective of the project. Specify who are the owners and other actual or planned key counterparties and stakeholders involved in the project. Give a brief description of the roles and responsibilities of each. o Location Please describe the location where the project is planned to be built, for example site characteristics, natural and built environment, access roads, other relevant existing infrastructure (such as distance to grid if grid connected project), and resource availability (such as average wind speeds) o Offtake Please specify the current or envisaged power off-taker (or other buyers in case of non-power projects) and explain the planned business model of the project. USER S MANUAL 11
o Grid connection Please specify if the project is stand-alone, mini-grid or grid-connected and where is the distribution of the output going to take place. In case of other outputs explain the distribution channels, how and through which intermediaries the output will be delivered. o Socio-economic and environmental impacts Please specify the social, economic and environmental impacts (both negative and positive) this project will have and how it will comply with regulations. Explain how the project is linked to national priorities. Describe also the studies that have been made to assess these impacts. o Current situation and planned activities Please describe the current situation of the project. Describe which permits, licenses and agreements are required in order to implement the project, and what is the status of each. Explain also the status of technical, environmental and other studies needed, as well as the status of financial arrangement. Specify what has been achieved so far and what still needs to be achieved. Describe the planned timeline of the project until construction and operation. Brochure upload Location on Google map (*) Almost all of the information is either numerical or entered via dropdown lists, making this easy to complete. The user must provide all mandatory information. For the Google map location, the user is required to find on the map and click the exact spot where the project will be built: Location of project on map 12 S U S T A I N A B L E E N E R G Y M A R K E T P L A C E
While entering the requested information, please save your project profile regularly by clicking Save on the right top corner of the form: Save button USER S MANUAL 13
Financing instrument Financing entities are required to enter at least one financial instrument before submitting their application for approval. This is done by clicking the Financial Instruments tab on the main profile: Financing instruments tab Click Add Financial Instrument : Add instrument button 14 S U S T A I N A B L E E N E R G Y M A R K E T P L A C E
The following window opens: Financial instrument form Once the Financial Instrument form is opened, the following information must be filled in (* mandatory): Instrument name (*) Instrument types (*) Eligible beneficiaries (*) Eligible project types (*) Eligible countries (*) Eligible phases (*) Contact information Project size MW Project size (million USD) Investment size (million USD) Investment size (% of total investment) Investment size (% of equity) Investment size (% of debt) General Description (*) Instrument level facilitations needs Brochure upload USER S MANUAL 15
Please save the financial instrument profile regularly by clicking Save at the right top corner of the form: Save button Submitting for approval and acceptance to the marketplace When all the required information is ready for submission, the user should go to the entity profile. This is done by clicking the name of the entity, at the top of either the Project or Financing Instrument profile. The user must then click Submit for approval at the right top corner of the main profile page: Once the submit button is clicked, the following message will appear beside the entity s name: Your profile is pending approval from the administrator. 16 S U S T A I N A B L E E N E R G Y M A R K E T P L A C E
IRENA will review the profile and make sure that all information is consistent. When the information has been verified, IRENA will approve the user s access to the platform, and the user will then receive an email notification of his/her acceptance. USER S MANUAL 17
3 Search Functions When the approved user logs into his/her profile, he/she will be enabled with the website functions, including search functions. The search functions are available on the main page by clicking MARKETPLACE in the Menu. 3.1 General Search The first function listed is the General Search, where any user can use a search engine to find all results matching the keywords entered: General Search The user can also insert a filter by clicking +See more filters : 18 S U S T A I N A B L E E N E R G Y M A R K E T P L A C E
+See more filters button The user can filter the General Search by entities, projects and financial instruments: Filters for General Search USER S MANUAL 19
3.2 Project Search The second search function available is Project Search, where users can look for registered projects in the marketplace and filter them using different search parameters: Projects Search The user can either use the general search engine on the top by entering keywords, scroll-down the list below where all projects are listed or use the label at the top of the table to list them alphabetically, by size or by other parameters. Finally, the user can also filter the list by clicking + See more filters under the search tab: 20 S U S T A I N A B L E E N E R G Y M A R K E T P L A C E
Clicking the button makes the following filters appear: Search filters for projects Users can use one or more filters at a time. There are two types of filters, category/list filters and range filters. To use the category/list filters, the user has to select any categories or names of interest in the list and then click Apply under the filter: USER S MANUAL 21
When using range filters, the user only needs to scroll the side bars in order to limit the project size he/she is looking for: The list of projects below will adjust itself automatically when these filters are being applied. By clicking the project name or the name of the company, the user can access respectively the project profile or the company profile: 22 S U S T A I N A B L E E N E R G Y M A R K E T P L A C E
3.3 Financing Instruments With the Financing Instruments search, users can look for different financial instruments offered by different entities from the private and public sector. When the search function is clicked, a list of all financial instruments in the field automatically appears. These instruments can be filtered by using different parameters, similarly to the project search: Users can either use the general search engine at the top by entering keywords, scroll-down the list below where all financing instruments are listed, or use the label at the top of the table to list them alphabetically or by size. Finally, they can also filter the list by clicking + See more filters under the search tab: USER S MANUAL 23
When the button is clicked the following filters appear: Search filters for financial instruments Users can filter the instruments by instrument type, eligible project type, eligible countries, eligible beneficiaries, eligible phases of the project, and the name of the financing entity providing the instrument. Users can use one or more filters at a time. In this search function there are only category/list filters. The user can access financial instrument profiles or financial entity profiles by clicking the desired names directly from those lists: 24 S U S T A I N A B L E E N E R G Y M A R K E T P L A C E
3.4 Service Provider Search, Technology Supplier Search and Organisation Search The service provider, technology supplier search and the organisation search functions are identical to the previously mentioned project and financing instrument searches. For the first two, you can look for specific service and technology companies that offer either different services according to your stage of development and specific needs of the project, or different technologies which can be either components or integrated systems. You can filter your search by using different criteria, such as type of services or technology provided, countries of operation, name of the organisation, country of domicile, and more. The organisation search allows you to filter all entities in the marketplace by type of user (project owner, financing entity, service provider, technology supplier), type of organisation, name of organisation, country of domicile, number of employees and last recorded turnover. Service provider search USER S MANUAL 25
Technology supplier search Organisation search 26 S U S T A I N A B L E E N E R G Y M A R K E T P L A C E
3.5 Country Search The country search function allows the user to look for information regarding a specific country (policies, regulatory frameworks and resources). The user will find a panel embedded in each country profile where available tools and databases allow the registered user to learn more about a country s framework and market. There are tools that can be used, for project developers to develop their own projects or for other users to cross-check information about projects situated in a specific country. The panel is composed of tools and databases already provided by IRENA that have been linked to the marketplace. It includes REsource (http://resourceirena.irena.org/gateway/) which is the most comprehensive database available on renewable energy, the IEA/IRENA Policies and Measures Database (http://www.iea.org/policiesandmeasures/renewableenergy/) providing all the latest policies and regulations on renewable energy, and the Global Atlas (http://irena.masdar.ac.ae/) providing information on renewable energy resources and other regional or country level information. Click the links if you wish to learn more about these databases. Clicking Country Search calls up the following page: Country Search In the middle of the page, there is a dropdown list where the user can select a specific country of interest. The list changes according to which portal you are registered for or logged in to (Latin America, Caribbean or Africa). When a country name is clicked, a page opens up with a panel that has the links to the aforementioned tools and databases: USER S MANUAL 27
South Africa s profile The panel has two sections: the data section, where you find data on the installed renewable power capacity of the country extracted from the REsource website, along with two links to the country s Global Atlas maps, and the country link to IEA/IRENA Renewable Energy Policies and Measures database (if available). The other section, called Additional information, opens the REsource page related to the country, containing additional information on the country including (also if available) IRENA reports related to that specific country. Under the panel are listed all the projects present on the marketplace that are being developed in the country: Country panel followed by list of projects. 28 S U S T A I N A B L E E N E R G Y M A R K E T P L A C E
3.6 Save Alert and Export to Excel functions In all search functions, you will find above the search results two tabs: the Save Alert function and the Export to Excel function. Save alert & Export to Excel in Projects Search Save Alert The Save Alert function allows the user to save a current search and used that to set up an alert in case new cases corresponding to the search criteria are added to the platform, or if existing cases are modified. USER S MANUAL 29
The tab opens the following window: Save alert page The Save Alert function will create an alert on the current search the user was carrying out. The page will ask you to give a title to the alert: Secondly, the function specifies to which email the alert will be sent: Thirdly, it will ask you if you want to be informed only about new additions to the platform, only about changes to current, available cases, or both: 30 S U S T A I N A B L E E N E R G Y M A R K E T P L A C E
Finally, it will ask the user how frequently he/she wants to be alerted: Once the user has chosen his/her options he/she clicks on the OK button at the end of the page to set the alert. Export to Excel The Export to Excel function allows the user to export the search result list into an Excel file. When the tab is clicked the list will be automatically downloaded, giving the same information shown on the website: Export to Excel (Projects search) USER S MANUAL 31
4 Managing account 4.1 Editing account When the user has logged in, he/she can edit his/her account by clicking Edit account at the top right corner of the regional portal where he/she is registered: Clicking the link opens the following window: User1@gmail.com The page will ask if the user wants to change his/her email address from the one he/she used to register (which can also be used as a username) or if he/she wants to change his/her current password. 32 S U S T A I N A B L E E N E R G Y M A R K E T P L A C E
4.2 Editing profile The user can edit his/her main profile page whenever he/she wishes to do so. The user simply needs to click Edit to the right of the page: Test Company The user can also edit and update his/her projects or financial instruments, if any, by going to the project or financial instrument profile and clicking Edit at the top of the page: Test Company PROJECT NAME The user has to save the information he/she has modified in order to update his/her profile. USER S MANUAL 33
4.3 Deleting profile The user can delete his/her profile any time by going to the main profile page and clicking Delete to the right of the page: Test Company When the tab is clicked, the website will ask you the following: Delete Form for project owners 34 S U S T A I N A B L E E N E R G Y M A R K E T P L A C E
It will ask the reason for deleting the account (the options change based on which type of user is deleting his/her profile) and allows also the user, if desired, to briefly described the reason why he/she made this decision. 4.4 Contacting administrator You can always contact the administrator, either clicking the contact tab, either in the regional homepage: Or on the main page of another user s profile, in case you wish to report spam or any other issues related to a specific user: Project profile Test Company When you click to select either of the two options mentioned above, the following window opens: USER S MANUAL 35
The user must indicate the reason for contacting the administrator by choosing from five options: Administrative and technical issues Facilitation request Report spam Contact entity Other The user can also specify more in detail the issue he/she is confronting or the type of assistance he/she requires. 4.5 Adding/removing type of user to the profile The user can also decide if he/she wants to add or remove a type of user on his/her profile. The user can register as project owner, financing entity, service provider and technology supplier. By editing the main page of his/her profile, the user can remove or add a user type. This is done by checking or unchecking the box under the type of user: If you wish to add a user type, you must also indicate to which subcategory your organisation belongs. 36 S U S T A I N A B L E E N E R G Y M A R K E T P L A C E
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