Lowest bid in Kazakhstan’s first solar auction reaches $0.05170/kWh

Kazakhstan operator of electricity and power market operator JSC KOREM has unveiled the results of the first solar auction. The regulator said 28 applications were received from 20 companies, with project capacities ranging from 10.2 MW to 100 MW. The total volume of proposed capacity was 1.27 GW.

JSC KOREM selected four PV projects totaling 170 MW in the auction. The lowest bid was KZT 18.6 (US$0.05170)/kWh, submitted for a 50 MW project proposed by JSC Hydroenergy company.

Two more projects submitted by Avelar Solar Technology, a unit of Russian module maker Hevel Solar, saw bids of KZT 18.6 ($0.05115)/kWh and KZT 18.6 ($0.06187/kWh), respectively. A fourth project was submitted by Shell Kazakhstan B.V. Branch, the local unit of multinational oil company Shell, which offered a price of KZT 22.9 ($0.06297)/kWh.

Hevel Group was awarded 15-year PPAs for the sale of power from two solar plants totaling 70 MW, which will be located in southern Kazakhstan and will be commissioned between 2019 and 2020, the Russian company said in a statement.

“This tender was a high competitive one and our victory means that we have entered an international market not only as PV modules supplier, but also as an power company competing with major international players,” said Igor Shakhray, CEO of Hevel Group.

The auction is a first of a series of renewable energy auctions that the Kazakh government will hold this year. Overall, 1 GW of renewable energy power generation capacity is set to be assigned, of which solar will comprise 290 MW. Wind, hydro and biomass power projects are expected to have a quota of 620 MW, 75 MW and 15 MW, respectively.

*The article was updated on Oct. 19 to correct inaccurate information. We previously reported that not all of the four projects selected in the auction were relying on the PV technology.