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Cheapest Solar in Africa Comes to Zambia Through World Bank Plan

First Solar, Neoen and Enel win first Scaling Solar auction
Scaling Solar designed to facilitate solar in emerging markets

By

Brian Eckhouse and

Anna Hirtenstein

June 13, 2016, 4:08 PM UTC

First Solar Inc., Enel SA and Neoen SAS won contracts to develop two photovoltaic power projects in Zambia that will provide Africa’s cheapest solar power, the first winners of a World Bank-organized auction program to promote wider use of renewable energy in developing nations.

First Solar, the biggest U.S. panel producer, and France’s Neoen will jointly build a 45-megawatt power plant that will sell electricity for 6.02 cents a kilowatt-hour, and Enel will provide power from a 28-megawatt facility for 7.84 cents, the World Bank’s International Finance Corp. announced Monday.