The Qatar General Electricity and Water Corp (Kahramaa) has revealed the 800 MW solar tender concluded last week delivered a final price of QAR0.0571/kWh ($0.016/kWh) – the lowest winning bid ever registered in an auction for large scale renewable energy. [$0.016/kWh = $16/MWh. For comparison, new coal costs $66-$152/MWh]
The utility said the winning consortium, formed by French oil giant Total and Japanese conglomerate Marubeni Corp, had initially submitted a bid of QAR0.0636/kWh.
“Kahramaa has signed the power purchase agreement (PPA) with the project company, with an aim to achieve financial close of the project in May 2020,” said the utility. “Kahramaa is pleased to note that based on current financial market indices, the equivalent LEC [levelized energy cost] is QAR0.0571/kWh ($0.01567/kWh), which is one of the world’s lowest for projects of this type.”
If the utility’s five-decimal-point calculation is correct, the bid beats the previous world record of €0.0147/kWh ($0.016) submitted by French developer Akuo Energy for 150 MW of solar generation capacity in Portugal’s first PV auction. Saudi energy giant ACWA Power bid $0.0169/kWh in the tender for the fifth phase of the huge Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai.
We're getting used to new lows for solar power. And we expect cheap solar in desert regions. Yet solar should be cheap in most low latitude locations. It's a nice irony that technology now favours developing countries in Africa and South America.
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