The Maldives has issued a tender inviting interested bidders to participate in the pre-qualification process for installing 11-14 MW of solar projects in 14 major islands.
Last date to file the application for pre-qualification is September 9, 2021 by 1300 local time.
The winner to sign a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with the local electricity service provider.
The ‘Accelerating Renewable Energy Integration and Sustainable Energy’ (ARISE) project builds on the efforts of the existing World Bank-funded program ‘Accelerating Sustainable Private Investments in Renewable Energy’ (ASPIRE) initiative to bring in private investments for increasing renewable energy capacity in the Maldives.
The latest scheme, which includes installations on 14 islands, will be realised as part of an existing public-private partnership project framework that was developed with assistance from the World Bank. A number of other projects have already been developed under that framework, including a 1.5-MW rooftop PV system, two ground-mounted solar plants of 5 MW, currently under construction, and a 21-MW project in the tender stage.
At present, renewables account for only 4% of the national energy mix in the Maldives, but the state wants to become carbon neutral by 2030.
Earlier this month, the government launched a tender process to prequalify bidders for the installation of battery energy storage systems (BESS) totalling 40 MW/40 MWh of capacity.
