Jordan Closes 200 MW Solar Tender With Record-low Tariffs
Project developers eager to set up solar PV power projects in Jordan took a shot at the lowest-ever tariff in the second round tender under the country’s solar power program.
Jordan allocated 200 MW of solar PV power projects in the second round auction, after a total of 33 companies had submitted technical proposals to set up power projects. However, only 24 of them submitted financial bids eventually. Four developers submitting the lowest bids would be selected to develop 50 MW capacity each. The lowest tariff bid has been submitted by a Greek company, SUNRISE Photovoltaic Systems, which placed a bid of just US¢6.13 per kWh.
Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power won a 200 MW tender from Dubai Electricity and Water Authority earlier this year with the lowest-ever bid of ¢5.98 per kWh.
SUNRISE Photovoltaic Systems, founded in 2006, has been active in the Greek solar power market developing a number of projects. However, the company has no developed any project as large as 50 MW. According to the company’s website, the largest it has developed so far has a 3 MW installed capacity.
The second lowest bid was placed by construction company Saudi Oger, with a ¢6.48 per kWh tariff. Spanish developer Fotowatio Solar Renewable Ventures placed a ¢6.91 per kWh bid to win the right to develop 50 MW capacity. (Earlier this year Fotowatio was acquired by Dubai-based Abdul Latif Jameel Energy and Environmental Services.) The final winning bid was placed by a subsidiary of the Chinese project developer Hareon Solar. Hareon Swiss Holding placed a bid of ¢7.97 per kWh.
Some of the other prominent project developers who placed bids but could not make the cut include SolaireDirect (¢8.02/kWh), Mainstream (¢8.68/kWh), Kawar-First Solar (¢8.8/kWh), SkyPower-FAS (¢8.98/kWh), SunEdison (¢9.04/kWh), and ACWA Power (¢9.29/kWh).
The lowest qualifying bid under the first auction of 200 MW capacity earlier this year was ¢14.8 per kWh.
Image Credit: Vyacheslav Argenberg | CC 2.0
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
CleanTechnica Holiday Wish Book
Our Latest EVObsession Video
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.
When will these guys get it that the cost of solar fuel is zero. The cost of a centralized system is not zero, but if you produce electricity on top of your roof and consume it on site with the help of batteries then the cost of the kwh will be almost zero too. That is because the initial investment is getting lower for the solar cells and the storage like Tesla powerwall. So the cost will tend towards zero and yet you get to see country after country getting fooled every day by a centralized system and paying what ever money it is just because the sun is shining on top of the country and in this case a Greek smart ass is making money from the shining sun over Jorden.
“The cost will tend towards zero …” Untrue, but even by your logic it is not there yet, so the current price is positive. Solar panels need resources to make, resources to ship, resources to install. The real question here is whether Sunrise can really meet the low costs implied. by their bid, since they don’t have much of a track record. The number of big developers bidding around 8c/kWh may be a better indicator.
Solar panels need cleaning too. Especially in dusty parts of the world.