The Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) has inaugurated a 5MW solar project in the Awali township, Manama.

The photovoltaic (PV) project has been installed by the US-based Petra Solar, in partnership with the US’ Caspian Renewable Energy. The installation will save approximately 6,900 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year, and the electricity generated will be fed into Bahrain’s Electricity and Water authority (EWA) for distribution.

Bapco has developed the project in collaboration with the National Oil & Gas Authority (Noga), EWA and the University of Bahrain.

The project is part of Bahrain’s plans to meet 10 per cent of its energy demands by renewable energy by 2030.

EWA is also pushing ahead with plans to develop a pilot renewable energy scheme.

Speaking at MEED’s Bahrain Energy Forum in April, Adnan Mohammed Fakhro, deputy CEO for distribution and customer services at EWA, said the EWA was currently assessing tenders for the pilot scheme in the southern part of the country.

Fakhro said the plant will have a 3MW photovoltaic (PV) solar energy component and a 2MW wind energy component.