Zambia solar tender sets Sub-Saharan price record

A project developed in Uganda under its own GET FiT programme. Source: Access Power.

The latest GET FiT tender in Zambia has awarded 120MW of capacity and set a record low price for Sub-Saharan Africa.

The tender had originally been for 100MW but was extended, owing to the quality of the received bids.

The lowest bid of 3.999 Us cents per kWh is the first under the four-cent mark. The weighted average price across all projects was 4.41 cents.

The scheme is run by Zambia’s Department of Energy and the German development bank KfW.

“What has made this such a competitive outcome is the bankable standardised transaction agreements, the effective tender implementation and the steadfast commitment of the Government of Zambia and [state power company] ZESCO,” said Marco Freitag of KFW Development Bank.

The six winning bids were awarded in pairs to three successful bidders, whittled down from 23 consortia.

• Two Proposals of Joint Venture Building Energy & Pele Energy - Bulemu East and West–20MWac each at USDc 3.999/kWhac.
• Two Proposals of Joint Venture Globeleq & Aurora Power Solutions - Aurora Sola One and Two - 20MWac each at USDc 4.52/kWhac.
• Two Proposals of Joint Venture of InnoVent and CEC - Garneton North and South Solar20MWac each at USDc 4.80/kWhac.

“It is important to recognise that these tariff results represent a truly competitive outcome. Not only were developers required to find and acquire their own suitable sites and pay for shallow grid connection, but GET FiT Zambia has offered no form of grant financing, nor has it arranged for concessional finance,” said Ryan Anderson, the tender agent team leader.

Tags: africa, pv power plants, zambia, getfit zambia, getfit, sub saharan africa, kfw