- The Republic of The Gambia is implementing Regional Solar Park of The Gambia Project (RSPG) financed by the World Bank.
- National Water and Electricity Company (NAWEC) is an Implementing Agency for RSPG.
- The main Project Development Objective is to mobilise private investments through the piloting of a sustainable solar and battery energy storage system competitive bidding process.
With the assistance of the World Bank and the ECOWAS West African Power Pool (WAPP), NAWEC has developed a Resettlement Action Plan whose cutoff date was on 05th April 2022, and the RAP was approved in March 2023 by the World Bank. That means it has been almost two years, and the RAP is still not implemented. Meanwhile, NAWEC has hired a consortium of consultants composed of EY, Mayer Brown and Imara Solar (the “Transaction Advisor”) to develop an auction system in The Gambia for the selection of one or more IPPs to finance, build and operate the first phase of the Regional Solar Park (50 MWp solar with 18 MWh of BESS, (Battery Energy Storage System) the “Project”).
Contractually, the transaction support for the solar auction is divided into two phases, with the first phase focusing on the design of the auction, with the WAPP as the leading client (the “Phase 1”), and the second phase providing support for the launch and running of the auction, with the Government of The Gambia as the client (the “Phase 2”). As required by the Request for Proposal dated May 6, 2021, the Transaction Advisor had provided a technical and financial proposal both for Phase 1 and 2 selected in its offer dated July 12, 2021.
The chosen consultant will evaluate, revise, and update the RAP before implementing it, ensuring the phase-one site is ready for transfer to an independent power producer selected through an auction.
Link to the full tender announcement HERE
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
