Sharjah’s waste management company Beeah has tendered a contract to build, own and operate a 20MW solar plant at Sharjah’s main landfill.

Bids are due on 9 March 2015.

Beeah’s CEO Khaled al-Huraimel announced the tender at the World Future Energy Summit (WFES) in Abu Dhabi.

The off-grid photovoltaic (PV) installation will store energy to power the waste management centre in the Al-Sajaa district of the emirate 24 hours a day.

It will utilise land seen as contaminated, which is not attractive for commercial developments.

This represents the emirate’s first renewables project.

Sharjah has experienced feedstock issues for conventional power generation in recent years, causing power cuts. This has also meant Sharjah Electricity & Water Authority (Sewa) is unable to develop conventional power plants and relies on Abu Dhabi for energy imports.

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