Zambia shortlists 12 for 300-MW solar tender

Solar power system in Zambia. Source: UNIDO. License: Creative Commons, Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic

Twelve bidders have been pre-qualified in Zambia’s procurement round for up to 300 MW of utility-scale solar power capacity under the World Bank Group’s Scaling Solar programme.

The Request for Qualifications (RfQ) got 21 responses. The Request for Proposals (RfP) will be sent to the pre-qualified 12 soon, according to a notice on the Scaling Solar website.

In May 2016 Zambia held auctions for two photovoltaic (PV) projects, each of up to 50 MW, under its first mandate with Scaling Solar. The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), Zambia, is leading the new solar effort in coordination with the Ministry of Energy. Its list of pre-qualified bidders is available below.

Bidder’s name	Country
Scatec Solar	Norway
Nareva Holding	Morocco
Acciona Energia - Swicorp Company - Enara Bahrain	Spain/KSA
Access EREN JGC Zambia IPP Consortium	France/Japan/UAE
Mitsui & Company	Japan
Engie Global Developments	Netherlands
Globeleq - FRV Consortium	UK/Netherlands
Enel Green Power	Italy
Tata Power	India
Neoen & First Solar	France/USA
Total Mulilo Zambia Consortium	France/South Africa
EDF Energies Nouvelles	France

Scaling Solar helps governments to quickly contract large-scale solar capacity with private financing. It provides technical assistance, templated documents, pre-approved financing, insurance products, and guarantees. Countries in Asia and the Middle East are currently in talks to join the programme, which has the financial support of the US Power Africa initiative, the Netherlands, Denmark, and the World Bank’s DevCo.

The IDC said a third round in Zambia could be announced before the end of the year.

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