The adoption of the law “On support for renewable energy sources” in 2009 created favourable conditions for sustainable development, energy sector diversification and renewable energy sources (RES) development.
However, investors suggested certain amendments to the legislation based on the best international practices to reflect the current state of the industry. Below are some suggestions indicated to date.
The qualification requirements for bidders determine which suppliers are eligible to participate in the auction, including the conditions they should meet and the documentation they will provide before the auction. An important aspect of the requirements for large RES projects is relevant experience a potential developer has.
Currently, according to the Kazakhstan legislation, in order to participate in auction bidding, the participants confirm qualification requirements only for legal capacity by providing copies of the Articles of Association, certificates of state registration/re-registration, legal entity details, and application fee for participation in the auction bidding.1 In addition to the documents, a bank guarantee is required.
As auctions for renewable energy sources do not generally require qualification based on experience, we refer to international practice to examine the advantages and disadvantages.
According to international practice, qualification requirements in terms of experience include analysis of the following documents:
For example, in the auction organised by the Moroccan Association for Sustainable Energy (MASEN) in 2011, the following experience-related criteria were taken into account:
Overall, stricter qualification requirements ensure that the state will have competent bidders, hence a better infrastructure in the form of renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and hydro power plants.
However, we note that it would be advisable to balance the implementation of the qualification requirements in order to mitigate the risk of entry barriers for new players in the renewable energy market.