Bahrain’s Electricity & Water Authority (EWA) is planning to issue the tender for the contract to develop a 100MW photovoltaic (PV) solar plant in June.

EWA is currently evaluating proposals it received in April for a concept study and is planning to issue the main developer contract next month, Abdulhussain Mirza, Electricity & Water Affairs Minister, said at the recent Gateway Gulf investor forum in Bahrain.

The project will form part of Bahrain’s plans for 5 per cent (250MW) of its total power capacity to come from renewable energy sources by 2025. Manama is planning for installed clean energy capacity to reach 700MW by 2030 by implementing a number of solar, wind and waste-to-energy projects.

The site identified for the proposed 100MW solar plant is the Askar landfill site in the southern governorate of Bahrain.

Bahrain’s first renewable energy project was commissioned in July 2014. The 5MW distributed photovoltaic (PV) solar project was developed by state oil company Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) in collaboration with Bahrain’s Oil & Gas Authority (Nogaholding), EWA and the University of Bahrain.

It was built by US-based Petra Solar in partnership with the US’ Caspian Renewable Energy. The project saves about 7,200 tonnes a year of carbon dioxide emissions and the electricity generated is delivered to EWA for distribution.