Paraguay's state electricity utility, the National Electricity Administration (ANDE), has suspended the bidding process to build its first owned solar plant, a 15 MW project in the Paraguayan Chaco with an estimated investment of US$6.45 million. The interruption occurred after the company Récord Electric SAECA filed a formal protest against the tender's bidding terms, identified as LPI N.° 1998-26.
According to the Public Procurement Law, the filing of a protest triggers an automatic suspension of the procedure. The National Directorate of Public Procurement (DNCP) initially appointed lawyer Fernando Carvallo to analyze the appeal, but, due to the official's unavailability, replaced him with lawyer Janeth Cardozo through a new resolution.
While the protest, registered under number 483,407, remains unresolved, ANDE cannot proceed with the bid. The state-owned power company could only resume the process partially or in full if it requested permission from the DNCP and submitted a sworn statement of responsibility from the official in charge.
In addition to the administrative hurdle, the project faces another uncertainty: ANDE has not yet secured the exact land location to install the solar panels. The company's technical manager, engineer Tito Ocariz, admitted that the site is still being determined but will be near the Villa Hayes Substation in the Bajo Chaco region, where the generated energy will be transported and fed into the 23 kV grid to improve voltage levels in the area.
Ocariz emphasized that the project's main objective is to strengthen ANDE's technical capabilities in the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of solar plants, allowing the state company to gain hands-on experience with this technology. The 15 MW plant is a separate project from a planned 140 MW mega-plant for the Western region and will be assembled directly by ANDE's own technicians.
With the protest still under review and the change in the assigned instructor, there is no set date for the resumption of the award process for what would be the first solar plant owned by the Paraguayan state utility.