Tendering for concession to build Ljubinje solar park flops

The Ministry of Industry, Energy, and Mining of Republika Srpska has repealed a decision to award a concession for the construction and operation of the Ljubinje solar photovoltaic (PV) power station after the tendering announcement, published in the summer of 2018, attracted no bids.

A 50-year concession had been envisaged for the project worth BAM 150 million (around EUR 76.8 million), Nezavisne novine recalled.

Two companies had announced bids for the concession. One of them was IFS Solar, which had initiated the project, but did not submit an offer for the concession. Nezavisne novine has learned that the company did not manage to secure financing for the project.

According to the daily’s unnamed source, IFS Solar has not completely given up on the concession and plans to contact the authorities again as soon as it secures financing.

However, the line ministry is not certain if and when fresh tendering will be launched for the project.

“In line with the law on renewable energy sources and efficient cogeneration, electricity produced by solar power plants with an installed capacity of over 1 MW must be sold on the market, which is difficult to secure. We assume that this was the reason no bid was filed – that the interested companies could not secure a draft power purchase agreement as was required by tendering documentation,” the daily was told at the ministry.

Deadline to bid expired on July 27

The Ministry of Industry, Energy, and Mining sought bids for a concession to build a 65 MW solar park in Ljubinje, setting the deadline to submit offers at July 27.

The Ljubinje solar park was planned to be built on around 80 hectares of land, with an expected annual output of around 104 GWh of electricity, which was to be sold on the market.

The future concessionaire was expected to pay a one-off concession fee in the amount of BAM 300,000 (around EUR 153,000) plus a concession fee of BAM 0.0055 (EUR 0.0028) per kWh of electricity produced.

The project was initiated by IFS Solar Ljubinje, part of Turkey’s Capital Group.

Austria’s Schall-Invest has also expressed interest in the project, according to reports.