Kuwait’s Central Tenders Committee (CTC) has approved the award of a KD7.1m ($25m) contract to a consortium of the local Alghanim International General Trading & Contracting and Spain’s Elecnor to build a 10MW pilot wind project.

The 10MW pilot plant will be located at the Shagaya renewable energy park, which is being developed by the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (Kisr), in collaboration with the Ministry of Electricity (MEW).

The Alghanim/Elecnor consortium submitted the second-lowest bid for the project, with the only other bidder, the consortium of Spain’s TSK Electronica and the local Kharafi National, submitting the low price of $21m.

The wind farm is the second contract to be approved for the Shagaya renewable scheme. The CTC had already approved the award of a KD139.1m contract to Spain’s Cobra to build the planned 50MW concentrated solar power (CSP) plant.

Kisr has also received bids for a 10MW photovoltaic (PV) solar plant at the Shagaya development. The TSK Electronica/Kharafi National joint venture submitted the lowest bid of $19.8m, which was marginally less than the $20.2m price submitted by a group featuring Spain’s Maetel.

The projects are part of Kisr’s plans to develop pilot schemes for solar and wind energy in Kuwait. In 2011, it recruited Germany’s Lahmeyer International to conduct a study to select the optimal renewable energy solutions for the country. Germany’s Fichtner prepared the masterplan for the Shagaya development and assisted Kisr and the MEW with the tendering process.