📋 Tender Overview
Scope :
The project will have solar and wind components and is expected to cost $100 million. It will be undertaken by Israel’s Gigawatt Global and its subsidiary Gigawatt Wind, and is billed as the first such facility in Sub-Saharan Africa to combine wind and solar energy in one location, providing a continuous supply of power.
Chibombo is seen as an ideal location for the hybrid plant as the wind picks up as the sun is setting. This enables a continuous source of feedstock and eliminates the need to use batteries, thus addressing the solar power storage issue.
Talks had been ongoing for several years on the solar-wind scheme and an agreement was reached during President Hakainde Hichilema‘s early August state visit to Israel.
Zesco will sign a 25-year power purchase agreement with the joint venture to ensure the new project’s viability.
Zambia currently has 3,600 megawatts of installed capacity, of which 86% comes from hydropower, with the remaining 14% supplied by a coal-fired thermal power station and several solar plants. With the country experiencing weakening rainfall patterns, especially in the south where key hydropower stations are located, the need to diversify power sources is compelling, notes the state utility company.
