State-upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) plans to launch tenders for two pilot solar-power schemes.

The first is for the construction of a photovoltaic power plant with a capacity of 5 megawatts (MW), which is expected to be launched in February 2012. The second tender covers the integration of a concentrated solar-power plant to produce electricity and steam for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) schemes. This will be launched in March.

Previous solar-power schemes in the country have been led by Kuwait’s Electricity and Water Ministry and the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR). They are planning to develop a 70MW renewable energy complex at Abdeli, in the north of the country near the Iraqi border (MEED 4:11:11).

The complex is to comprise a 10MW photovoltaic solar project a 10MW wind farm and a 50MW concentrated solar-power facility using trough technology. Tenders will be launched by the end of 2011 or early 2012.