Bahrain’s Electricity & Water Authority (EWA) plans to open a hybrid solar and wind-driven power plant in 2012, according to its deputy chief executive.

“We are looking at the possibility of a plant with capacity of 3-5 MW,” Khalid Ahmed Bu-Rashid told MEED’s Alternative Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi on 29 March.

EWA plans to appoint a consultant to work on the project in the third quarter of the year, he said. The plant will be the first hybrid solar-wind power project in the Gulf.

Bu-Rashid said that while the GCC has the potential to develop a significant amount of solar power, scope for wind power is more limited due to the low wind speeds.