The Government of Israel has issued a tender inviting interested bidders to participate in the pre-qualification process to develop approximately 300 MW of solar projects.

The projects are to be developed near Dimona in the Negev under a public-private partnership. The last date for the submission of bids is May 26, 2020, while the final date for the submission of requests for clarification has been scheduled for April 19, 2020.

The pre-qualification process is to select entities who will be eligible to participate in the tender process.

As per the financial requirements, the interested bidder should have an annual turnover of at least New Israeli Sheqel (NIS) 300,000,000 (~$87 million) in the last three years. A bidder who is not a financial entity is required to show the equity of not less than NIS 2,000,000 (~$~$0.6 million).

The scope of work includes the finance, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and transfer of the solar project. The tender committee could include within the scope of work the finance, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of an energy storage system. Therefor eligible participants would be required to demonstrate their experience or know-how of energy storage systems. Such an experience could be scored or evaluated as part of the tender process.

Further, the successful bidder will be required to engage an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor for the project design and construction. Similarly, the successful bidder will also have to engage an operation and maintenance (O&M) contractor. The participant can either be a single entity or several entities who have come together to submit a pre-qualification submission.

Last year, Israel’s leading research university, Ben-Gurion University, designed a miniaturized solar-power prototype that will help private commercial space missions. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is set to send a prototype to the International Space Station with its first launch of 2020.

In November 2018, Mercom reported that Israel had proposed to help in developing a 50 MW solar photovoltaic project and contribute towards the improvement of the agricultural sector in Angola in Central Africa.  It was also reported back then that Israel had invested $300 million in the agricultural sector in Angola since 2014.

Image credit: JCM The Joint Crediting Mechanism – GEC