Zambia Pre-Qualifies 12 Bidders

• Zambia's Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) has pre-qualified 12 bidders under the World Bankg Group's Scaling Solar Round 2
• The bidders were selected from a list of 21 companies
• Big names like Neoen, Total, Enel, EDF, Tata Power are among the pre-qualified bidders
• Nine bidders who couldn't qualify for the list can bid for Round 3, which is expected to be announced before the end of this year

The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) of Zambia has pre-qualified 12 bidders for the second round of the Scaling Solar program. The bidders will now compete for the 300 MW utility scale solar power capacity up for auction.

The IDC had issued request for pre-qualification (RFQ) documents in April 2017 for the tender of the World Bank Group's International Finance Corporation's (IFC) Scaling Solar Program (see Zambia RFQ For Scaling Solar).

Both local and global names are part of this list, which includes 12 bidders from Asian countries India and Japan, as well as European countries France, Norway, Italy:

• Scatec Solar ASA
• Nareva Holding
• Acciona Energia S.A.-Swicorp Company-Enara Bahrain
• Access Eren JGC Zambia IPP Consortium
• Mitsui & Company Limited
• Engie Global Developments B.V.
• Globeleq-FRV Consortium
• Enel Green Power SPA
• Tata Power Company Limited
• Neoen & First Solar
• Total Mulilo Zambia Consortium
• EDF Energies Nouvelles

The companies/consortiums will now receive request for proposal (RFP) documents. Nine bidders who couldn't qualify for round 2 have the opportunity to participate in round 3, which is planned to be launched before the end of 2017.

In the first Scaling Solar round in Zambia, the IDC had awarded 100 MW of capacity in June 2016 (see Zambia IFC Projects). The projects were won by Enel and Neoen/First Solar.