On Wednesday, GET FiT Zambia became the official implementation programme for the Zambian Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff (REFiT) Strategy. The REFiT Strategy was approved by the Zambian cabinet in July 2017 and formally launched by the Ministry of Energy in October.
REFiT strategy
The REFiT Strategy provides an allocation of 200MW for small- to medium-scale projects with a maximum size of 20MW, to be procured over a period of three years. Eligible technologies include hydro, solar photovoltaic (PV), geothermal, biomass, waste energy, and wind power.
The REFiT Strategy specifically allocates 100MW for hydro projects.
Call for tenders
In addition, in November, the Ministry of Energy approved Round 1 of the GET FiT Zambia programme, a solar PV tender of up to 100MW.
This tender will be launched in early 2018. In line with the REFiT Strategy, the maximum project size will be 20MW.
This tender will be run as a two-stage, sealed-bid auction, and applicants will be free to select project sites subject to grid constraints to be disclosed in a subsequent memo and on the GET FiT Zambia website.
Prior to initiating the Request for Qualification stage of the solar PV tender, GET FiT Zambia and partners in the Ministry of Energy will host a private sector workshop in Lusaka.
The date and location of this workshop will also be posted on the GET FiT Zambia website.
