Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), the state power utility under the Ministry of Power, Energy, and Business Development, has issued a Request for Proposals (RfP) from foreign and domestic companies to develop and maintain 150 MW of solar projects at various locations in the country.

The project is to be set up on a build, own, and operate basis under the Sooraya Bala Sangramaya Phase III. The contract is for 20 years and comes with a tariff cap of LKR (Sri Lankan rupee) ₹15.60 (~$0.08)/kWh

The deadline for the submission of bids is May 21, 2020, while the pre-bid meeting is scheduled to be held on April 30, 2020. The scope of work includes the design, supply, delivery, erection, testing, commissioning, operation, and maintenance of solar PV power projects.

Interested bidders can bid for projects within the grid capacity of 1 to 10 MW for the sites across 20 locations.

According to the tender document, the signing of the power purchase agreement (PPA) will take place within nine months from the date of issue of the Letter of Intent. The commercial operation date of the project has been scheduled to be within nine months from the PPA signing date.

As far as the technical criteria are concerned, the PV modules to be installed should comply with the relevant international standards (IEC 61215 and IEC 61730).

The bidder will also design, construct, test and commission, operate and maintain the power transmission lines at 33 kV voltage level, including all the associated equipment up to the termination point.

The prospective bidder must furnish a financing plan for the project, and it should include an analysis giving due consideration to the total estimated cost, likely revenue streams, cost of funds (including both equity and debt), and the proof of availability of adequate finances. The financing plan should indicate the equity component and its break-up to demonstrate the commitments by each of the equity participants.

In September 2019, Mercom reported that Sri Lanka’s Sustainable Energy Authority floated two expressions of interests for domestic and foreign companies to develop solar projects of 10 MW capacity with 20% energy storage systems.

In March 2019, Sri Lanka had proposed to develop 28 small solar power projects in its north-central and eastern regions. The tariff for power generated from these projects was set at LKR 12.84 (~$0.072) to LKR 15.93(~$0.089)/kWh and Ceylon Electricity Board was to purchase the power from these solar projects.

The Sri Lankan government has also signed an agreement with the Asian Development Bank wherein the bank would loan the country $50 million to help develop rooftop solar projects. The goal of this program is to support the government’s “Battle for Solar Power Program” to achieve the target of installing solar projects worth 200 MW by 2020 and 1,000 MW by 2025.

 

Image credit: AES Distributed Energy