GET FiT Zambia is pleased to announce the award of six (6) solar PV IPP projects, totalling 120MWac. The lowest successful bid came in at 3.999 USc/kWh and the weighted average of all six successful projects is 4.41 USc/kWh. This is the largest single Solar PV tender implemented in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to date outside of South Africa and is the first time a tariff below 4 USc/kWh is achieved through a public tender in SSA.
Shot of a row of solar panels basking in the sun to generate electricity for the nearby holiday resort 
The GET FiT tender had a target outcome of 100MWac, but due to the favourable results, the GRZ and GET FiT Investment Committee decided to award an additional 20MWac. Notably, the award was not based on price alone but was based on a total combined technical and financial score. GET FiT is the Government of the Republic of Zambia’s programme to facilitate private sector investment in small- and medium-scale Renewable Energy Independent Power Projects (IPPs) in Zambia.
The programme is a partnership between the Department of Energy and the German Development Bank, KfW, and is implemented by the GET FiT Secretariat (staffed by Multiconsult). The Government’s committed to renewable energy the tender represents the first phase of implementing the Government of the Republic of Zambia’s (GRZ) REFiT Strategy, launched in 2017.
The press conference hosted by the Ministry of Energy Permanent Secretary Brigadier General Emelda Chola (Rtd.) confirms GRZ’s commitment to enabling renewables, as well as their satisfaction with the results of this solar PV tender. Successful consortiums that have proven successful in the tender are summarized below.
- 1 st Award – Two Proposals of Joint Venture Building Energy & Pele Energy – Bulemu East & West– 20MWac each at USDc 3.999/kWhac.
- 2 nd Award- Two Proposals of Joint Venture Globeleq & Aurora Power Solutions – Aurora Sola One & Two – 20MWac each at USDc 4.52/kWhac.
- 3 rd Award – Two Proposals of Joint Venture of InnoVent & CEC – Garneton North & South Solar20MWac each at USDc 4.80/kWhac.
The consortia all consist of highly reputable companies with solar PV and African track-records. Each of them have passed a rigorous and competitive pre-qualification, and have submitted comprehensive technical and financial proposals. An important aspect of the tender design has been to ensure timely implementation and compliance to both technical and environmental compliance, including IFC E&S Performance Standards. These elements were captured in the technical minimum criteria and scoring.
In addition to the awarded bidders, two consortia have been awarded “Reserve” status. GET FiT Zambia reserves the right to call upon these consortia, each of which have also submitted bids for a total of 1 It is noted that 10% of the tariffs will be indexed to the US 40MWac each, in the event that any of the awarded consortium are unable to either meet pre-established timeframes and/or meet compliance requirements.
