State-owned Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (ZESCO) is inviting tenders for the construction of three solar power plants in several provinces in Zambia. Interested independent power producers (IPPs) have until 2 September 2022 to apply.
Zambia will soon have three new solar photovoltaic plants. The project, led by the state-owned Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (ZESCO), is subject to a tender with a deadline of 2 September 2022. The facilities will be built in Southern, Western and Luapula provinces, with a combined capacity of 50 MWp.
The selected Independent Power Producers (IPPs) will develop, finance, build and operate the solar PV plants. All applications will be considered, together with the relevant feasibility studies, under commercial contracts agreed between the developers (IPPs) and the utility ZESCO.
The development of these projects should enable Zambia to diversify its electricity mix. The East African country has an installed capacity of 3,030 MW, of which 2,393 MW is generated by hydroelectric plants. The largest of these is the 1,319 MW Kariba plant, which Zambia shares with Zimbabwe. ZESCO obtains some of the electricity it distributes to people and businesses from thermal (gas and coal) and solar power plants.
With the increasing droughts in Eastern and Southern Africa, Zambia is faced with lower dam levels and therefore lower electricity production in the dry season. To cope with this situation, ZESCO wants to further diversify its sources of production by focusing on solar energy. Zambia already has an installed solar capacity of 91 MW according to Power Africa. Among the solar power plants commissioned in recent years is the 54 MWp Bangweulu plant. The park was built by a consortium of French IPP Neoen and Zambian investor Industrial Development Corporation (IDC).
For more information on the ZESCO tender, click here.
Jean Marie Takouleu
