Zambia has opened a call for proposals for solar photovoltaic (PV) projects with a combined capacity of up to 300MW, as part of the Carbon Feed-In Premium (CFIP) programme.
The Ministry of Green Economy and Environment and the Ministry of Energy jointly announced the tender, which targets solar PV projects equipped with battery storage, Renewables Now reported.
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The authorities are inviting applications from local and international independent power producers, national utility ZESCO and its subsidiaries, and other eligible stakeholders.
The current window focuses exclusively on solar PV with storage and forms the initial technology phase of the CFIP mechanism.
Project developers have up to two months to prepare and submit their proposals, with the deadline for applications set at 31 May 2026.
The ministries will apply the CFIP eligibility criteria, set out in Annex 1 of the programme documents, to assess submissions.
Each project must have a planned installed capacity between 30MWac and 100MWac and include an on-site battery energy storage system (BESS) with a minimum duration of 30 minutes.
At least half of the electricity generated must be sold to ZESCO or its subsidiaries under the conditions of the call.
A CFIP Steering Committee will evaluate project submissions against the programme’s eligibility requirements and core principles.
Projects that pass this initial screening will move to a further stage of analysis and consideration to confirm compliance with all CFIP conditions and requirements.
All shortlisted projects must also complete the NACA Fund due diligence process.
Projects that successfully pass due diligence will receive an offer of a standardised CFIP renewable energy project contract from ZANACO, which acts as CFIP Fund Manager.
This contract will set out the CFIP price and payment terms for transfers from ZANACO to the renewable energy project proponent.
In April 2025, Zambia resumed work on the Zambia–Tanzania Interconnector Project, which connected its power grid to East Africa and formed part of a wider regional power market.
