GET FiT Zambia Announces Bid Winners for Six Solar PV IPP Projects Totaling 120MW

• GET FiT Zambia has announced the winning bidders for six solar PV IPP projects totaling 120MW
• The lowest successful bid came in at 3.999 USc/kWh and the weighted average of all six successful projects is 4.41 USc/kWh1 .
• This is the first time a tariff below 4 USc/kWh is achieved through a public tender in Sub Saharan Africa.

The GET FiT tender had a target outcome of 100MWac, but due to the favourable results, the GRZ and GET FiT Investment Committee decided to award an additional 20MWac. Notably, the award was not based on price alone but was based on a total combined technical and financial score.

GET FiT is the Government of the Republic of Zambia’s programme to facilitate private sector investment in small- and medium-scale Renewable Energy Independent Power Projects (IPPs) in Zambia. The programme is a partnership between the Department of Energy and the German Development Bank, KfW, and is implemented by the GET FiT Secretariat (staffed by Multiconsult).

The press announcement was hosted by the Ministry of Energy Permanent Secretary Brigadier General Emelda Chola (Rtd.) who confirmed GRZ’s commitment to enabling renewables, as well as their satisfaction with the results of this solar PV tender.

The consortiums that have proven successful in the tender are summarized below.

• 1st Award – Two Proposals of Joint Venture Building Energy & Pele Energy – Bulemu East & West– 20MWac each at USDc 3.999/kWh.
• 2nd Award- Two Proposals of Joint Venture Globeleq & Aurora Power Solutions – Aurora Sola One & Two – 20MWac each at USDc 4.52/kWh.
• 3rd Award – Two Proposals of Joint Venture of InnoVent & CEC – Garneton North & South Solar20MW each at USDc 4.80/kWh.

In addition to the awarded bidders, two consortiums have been awarded “Reserve” status. GET FiT Zambia reserves the right to call upon these consortium, each of which have also submitted bids for a total of  40MWac each, in the event that any of the awarded consortium are unable to either meet pre-established timeframes and/or meet compliance requirements.

In addition to this solar PV tender, GET FiT Zambia has already initiated its small hydro tender. Specifically, the results of the pre-qualification will soon be announced. A process to allocate pre-feasibility rights and a request for proposal during the course of 2019 will follow this.

Read full announcement

Author: Bryan Groenendaal