Hydro

In collaboration with the Ministry of Energy, GET FiT Zambia designed the framework for Round 2 of the Programme, the GET FiT Zambia Small Hydro Tender, supporting the development of small hydropower projects up to 20 MW.

The tender process includes a Prequalification Procedure (PQ) which was launched in January 2019. This will be followed by up to three successive Request for Proposal (RfP) windows between 2020 and 2021 to award the full 100 MW of capacity allocated to this tender. Additional PQ rounds may be implemented as required.

REFiTs for small hydro projects were developed by the Energy Regulation Board (ERB) with support from Power Africa’s Southern Africa Energy Program and GET FiT Zambia. These REFiTs will be the base tariff used in Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) for projects supported under the GET FiT Small Hydro Tender. GET FiT Zambia will provide the premium payments over and above the computed generation tariffs .

UPDATE: Please see update from the Secretariat regarding GET FiT Zambia implementation process in light of the COVID-19 pandemic

Feasibility Study Rights Process

The GET FiT program is designed to be a pathbreaker in realizing a first group of renewables IPPs and one objective is to ensure that there are standardized transaction documents. For this reason, the Ministry of Energy put a Moratorium on feasibility studies for Small Hydro Projects of up to 20MW on 19th September 2018.

In May 2019, the Moratorium was lifted and entities that had pre-qualified for the GET FiT Zambia 100MW Small Hydro Tender were invited to apply for Feasibility Study Rights.  Prequalified Developers who were participating in the Tender (pre-qualified) but already held Feasibility Study Rights were expected to apply for Feasibility Study Rights in order to be issued with the new small hydro standardised Approval Letter.

As part of the process, interim rapid grid assessments (IRGA) are conducted in consultation with ZESCO to assess the proximity, impact and safe integration of the of the various sites to the ZESCO grid.

Participation in the Programme

The aim of the REFiT Strategy is to increase the grid capacity and national generation output through private sector investments in small and medium scale Renewable Energy projects of up to 20MW.

GET FiT Zambia is implementing the initial allocation of 200 MW which is divided into 100 MW hydropower and 100 MW non-hydropower (Solar PV). With the award of 120MW of solar PV projects and the completion of pre-qualification of the small hydro, there are currently no tenders open for participation.

Entities that wish to be kept up to date with progress or gain more information on the program should get in touch with the GET FiT Zambia secretariat by emailing info@getfit-zambia.org.

For Further Information

Useful documents related to the Small Hydro tender can be found in the Library.

In Case You Missed It

  1. Update on Feasibility Study Rights for GET FIT Zambia 100 MW Small Hydro Tender Process. Read more
  2. Feasibility Study Rights Published. Read more
  3. Developers Prequalified for Small Hydro Tender. Read more

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