16 Bidders Pre-Qualify For 700 MW Qatar PV Tender

• Qatar's Kahramaa has come out with a list of 16 bidders who have been pre-qualified to compete for the development of a 700 MW solar power project
• The list includes well known solar EPC/developer names from South Korea, France, China, Spain, Germany and 5 companies from Japan alone
• Tender proceedings scheduled to start before the end of 2018 for the project capacity to be developed in the west of Doha
• In first stage, 350 MW is expected to be connected to the grid

Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) has come out with a list of pre-qualified bidders who will now compete for 700 MW solar power capacity. The agency plans to announce the tender before the end of 2018 and revealed details about the country's first major solar power project in a press conference. The project will be located on 10 km2 in the west of Doha, near Al-Kharsaah.

All the shortlisted bidders are individual companies and no consortiums. It includes big names in solar development from around the world, such as Enel, Engie, Hanwha, GCL New Energy, KEPCO, JinkoSolar, Mitsubishi Corporation, Total Solar, Innogy SE, Marubeni Corporation. From Japan alone, there are five companies that have made it to the list, while there are none from Qatar.

Through this project, the country hopes to reduce its dependence on oil and gas. It will be developed on build own operate transfer (BOOT) basis for a period of 25 years. Kahramaa will assume ownership of the project after 25 years of its operation.

In the first stage, 350 MW will be connected to the grid by 2020, said Kahramaa President Essa Hilal al-Kuwari, to meet the targets set out in the Qatar National Development Strategy (QNDS) 2018-2022.

In May 2018, Kahramaa had issued a pre-qualification round stating the project to have an expected power generation capacity of around 500 MW.