The Falcon project in the tendered solar projects will be located near the existing Ma’an Solar Park 1, approximately 13 km to the south east of Ma'an City in Jordan.

The final bidders in Jordan’s Round 3 auction have been announced. Overall, 150 MW of solar PV and 50 MW of wind capacity, are up for grabs.

Following Jinko, California-based developer, RAI Energy International and its local partner, Capital Investments & Brokerage, submitted the second lowest bid, of $0.0250. Canadian Solar Inc., as part of a consortium with local EPC and developer, Kawar Investments, ranked third, with $0.034404/kWh.

With their bids, the three developers have secured themselves a place in the final ranking. The final results will be announced after the revision of the financial offers from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR’s) German consultant, Fichtner Group, and the opening of alternative proposals for 100 MW capacity for the preferred bidders.

It is still not clear if MEMR will chose to go with three 50 MW projects, or two projects, one totaling 50 MW in size, and other, 100 MW.

MEMR held an opening session for the financial offers of base proposals after announcing the technical eligibility results last week.

The prices met the expectations and reconfirmed the maturity of the Jordanian renewables market, despite the challenges during this tendering round. The prices are considered very competitive given the size of the proposed projects.

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The two lowest offers were far ahead of the other 12 offers, where innovative technical solutions – beyond the mainstream bifacial panels – among other additional costs, are reportedly the reason for the gap.

Major global and regional players, like Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV), bid $0.034437/kWh, while First Solar International Middle East bid $0.035814.

The selected developers will be granted a 20-year PPA with the National Electric Power Company (NEPCO), and will be located in Solar Park 2 in Ma’an near the already existing round 1 projects.

By Amjad Khashman, Masters candidate in Energy Economics and specialized in renewable energy in the MENA region, with technical background