Myanmar Issues New Solar Tender for 240-480 MW

On 24 May 2021, the Electric Power Generation Enterprise (“EPGE”) under the Ministry of Electricity and Energy of Myanmar (“MOEE”) launched its second solar tender (Tender No. EPGE PV 02/ 2021-2022) in the same fashion as it did its first ever solar tender (Tender No. EPGE PV 01/ 2019-2020) in last year. The new tender invites interested developers to submit bids for the construction and operation of 12 ground-mounted solar PV plants upon build-operate-own (“BOO”) basis.

The solar PV plants will have to be installed with capacities in the range of 20MW to 40MW and the designated sites for them are in Sagaing, Magway, Mandalay and Bago Regions as well as South Shan State. While one of the sites was also part of last year’s solar tender, the rest are new locations. As the case with the previous tender, necessary land acquisition for the sites of the power plants and the construction of transmission facilities to connect with the national electricity grid of Myanmar will be the responsibilities of the bidders.

The proposed tariffs submitted by the bidders shall be fixed for the term of the PPA and they shall cover all applicable taxes and all kinds of costs related to the construction and operation of the solar PV plants and the transmission facilities. Although the bidders may propose tariffs in United States Dollars, EPGE will make all the payments in Myanmar Kyats only.

Each successful bidder will have to implement its awarded project after being issued with a letter of acceptance (“LOA”) and meet the scheduled commercial operation date (“COD”) of the project within 180 days after the issuance of the LOA. For each project, a 20-year power purchase agreement (“PPA”) will be scheduled to be signed within 150 days after the issuance of the LOA.