The Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (Kisr) has retendered the contract to build the 50MW concentrated solar power (CSP) plant at its Shagaya renewable energy park.

Kisr, which is developing the pilot scheme in partnership with the Ministry of Electricity & Water (MEW), received bids from six groups in November 2013. In March, Kuwait’s Central Tenders Committee (CTC) approved the award of the deal to the fourth-lowest bidder, Spain’s Cobra, which submitted a price of KD139.1m ($494.3m).

A joint venture of Spain’s TSK Electronica and the local Kharafi National had submitted the low bid of KD101.3m, and had been expected to win the contract. However, the first three bids were disqualified from the evaluation process, and the CTC approved Cobra’s bid.

According to sources in the country, the client’s reluctance to award the deal to the fourth-lowest bid has resulted in the retendering of the scheme.

Kisr has invited the following six groups to submit bids for the tender:

• Abener Abengoa Solar / Teyma (Spain)
• Cobra Instalaciones Y Servicios (Spain)
• Elecnor (Spain)
• FCC Industrial (Spain)
• Larsen & Toubro (India)
• TSK Electronica (Spain)

The CSP scheme was one of three projects tendered by Kisr for its Shagaya development in 2013. In June this year, the CTC approved the award of a KD7.1m contract to a consortium of the local Alghanim International General Trading & Contracting and Spain’s Elecnor to build a 10MW pilot wind scheme at the development.

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 low 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, the institute 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.