KABUL/ KANADAHAR CITY (SW): Two local companies have expressed interest to invest for a mega solar energy project in southern Kandahar province on Sunday.
According to local officials, Zularistan and Zazi are the two companies that are prepared to invest in a 10 Mega Watt solar energy project in Kandahar. Companies’ representatives met Kandahar Deputy Governor at his office today.
Abdul Ali Shamsi, the deputy governor expressed contentment about the project and said that the government were fully prepared to facilitate the investment.
Sayed Ahmad Selab, a member of the provincial council, told SW that a site in Daman district was chosen for the project. He underlined that Kandahar was in dire need of electricity. “We hope this project would not only cater to the electricity needs but would also help create jobs”, he hoped.
Afghanistan currently uses large quantities of diesel for power generation, which can be significantly reduced by setting up MW size solar power stations in various provinces of the country.
Solar power is not new to Afghanistan. Its spread is widespread, albeit on a much smaller scale in the form of rooftop installations. Rooftops have already penetrated into vast number of household and commercial establishments. Solar power has become the lifeline of these users in many provinces and towns. The largest solar power installation at a single location in Afghanistan is located at Bamiyan. This complex has multiple solar power generating plants having an aggregate facility of 1 MW.
Government of Afghanistan and the national utility, Da Afghanistan Breshna Shirkat (DABS) have taken its first initiative by planning a 10 MW solar PV power plant in Kandahar, which is envisaged to be set up as an Independent Power Plant by the private sector.
The project would be awarded to the bidder who quotes the lowest tariff based on an international competitive bidding process, DABS said in a communiqué.
Afghanistanis slowly and gradually developing into a competitive market of solar EPC services and all major components needed to construct the best in class solar PV system are available in the country, through a large number of vendors, who import the critical components from the Asian market.
A number of reputed international companies are working with local solar service providers for implementation of various solar power plants in Afghanistan. Most of the key components like solar panels, grid-tied inverters, irradiation sensors, etc.are imported mainly from China and some other countries, who have experienced solar power equipment manufacturers.
Kandahar Solar Project is a 10 MW capacity Solar-Diesel-Grid hybrid power project that is being looked at as a key solution to provide interim relief to the Kandahar electricity consumers (Industrial Parks, Commercial Centres and Residential).
Successful installation of Solar PV project which is proposed to be built as IPP (Independent Power Plant) will not only meet the demand of Kandahar, but also act as a model that could be replicated in the other parts of Afghanistan.
The project is being looked at as an important development as part of a larger objective of the United States Government (USG) in coordination with the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) for the development of Kandahar region.
The RFP is expected to be published in mid-September 2015, which will be followed by a pre-bid meetings and Road shows.
ENDS
