On behalf of the Zambian Ministry of Energy, the Global Energy Transfer Feed-in Tariffs (GET FiT), Zambia Secretariat has issued a request for proposal (RfP) under round one of the GET FiT Zambia 100 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) tender.

Per a document issued by the Zambian government, shortlisted companies and consortia which successfully pre-qualified have been invited to submit their proposals by November 29, 2018.

Ten companies were shortlisted following a competitive request for qualification (RfQ) which was concluded in June 2018. During July and August 2018, GET FiT Zambia partnered with ZESCO to assess the proposed sites to ensure that grid capacity is enough to connect the projects presented at a given location.

The process will be concluded in early 2019 after the evaluation of technical and financial criteria. Applicants selected for award will sign a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with ZESCO to deliver low-cost clean energy to the Zambian people.

These are the firms that have been selected for the next round: Building Energy S.P.A, EDF Energies Nouvelles, Enel Green Power S.P.A., Engie Afrique S.A., Globeleq African Holdings Ltd & Aurora Power Solutions, InnoVent SAS & Copperbelt Energy Corporation Plc, Mulilo Group Holdings Proprietary Ltd, Phanes Group, Scatec Solar ASA and SolarReserve Development Co.

Mercom previously reported that to address the challenges faced by Zambia in the energy sector, and to ensure a sustainable and climate-friendly energy sector development, the government of the Republic of Zambia recently launched the Renewable Energy Feed-in-Tariff (REFiT) strategy.

The REFiT strategy provides a framework to deploy small and medium-sized renewable energy projects of up to 20 MW with private sector involvement. The objective is to bring 200 MW of renewable energy onto the grid within the next three to five years, divided into 100 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) and 100 MW of small hydropower.