Bahrain’s Electricity and Water Authority (EWA) has extended the bid submission deadline for the Sitra Independent Water and Power Production Plant (IWPP) project, according to a report by Dubai-based project intelligence news portal MEED.

The deadline has been extended to 17 May 2026 from the previous deadline of March 2026, the report said.

The project, set to be developed under a Build-Own-Operate (BOO) framework, will have a capacity of approximately 1400–1500 megawatts (MW) of electricity and 30 million imperial gallons per day (MIGD) of water.

The prequalification invite was issued on 10 November 2024 with nine companies named in the prequalified bidders list issued in December 2024. However, the Request for Proposal (RFP) notice. issued in late August 2025, listed only seven bidders with two of the original bidders absent - Kuwait’s Alghanim International General Trading and Contracting and Saudi Arabia’s Al Jomaih Energy and Water Company.

The seven bidders prequalified included UAE’s Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA), Saudi Arabia’s ACWA, Kuwait’s Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC), Japan’s JERA, South Korea’s Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation and a Chinese consortium of China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEMC) and China Datang (Overseas Hong Kong).

The project’s original schedule envisaged the start of operational testing and initial commercial operations - covering 600MW of power and 30 MIGD of water - in the second quarter of 2028, with full commercial operations targeted for the second quarter of 2029.

The project will deploy Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) technology for power and sea water reverse osmosis (SWRO) technology for desalination.

Associated infrastructure 

While the main IWPP developer tender has been extended, bids were opened for associated infrastructure including Sitra 400kV Grid Substation and Subsystem (feeder cables) in April, Zawya Projects reported last month.

Earlier in March, EWA had received bids for the Al Hidd Independent Water Plant (IWP) project from ACWA and Spain’s GS Inima Environment. The project has a Guaranteed Net Contracted Water Capacity (GNCWC) of 11,364 cubic metres per hour (m3/h) - equivalent to 272,736 m3/day or 60 MIGD, and will replace and occupy the site of an existing facility.

The financial details of the bids, which were opened on 12 March 2026, weren't disclosed.

The IWP project's prequalification tender was issued on 12 November 2024. In December 2024, EWA had received seven qualification bids from UAE’s TAQA, Saudi Arabia’s ACWA, Kuwait’s GIC, Spain's GS Inima Environment, Bahrain's Lamar Holding, Kuwait’s Alghanim International General Trading and Contracting and Saudi Arabia’s Al Jomaih Energy and Water Company. 

A list of nine prequalified companies was released during the start of Request for Proposal (RFP) stage in July 2025 which comprises TAQA, ACWA, GIC, GS Inima Environment, Al Jomaih Energy and Water Company (AEW), JERA,  KEPCO, Sumitomo Corporation, and China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CEMC). The list excluded Bahrain's Lamar Holding and Kuwait’s Alghanim International General Trading and Contracting.

The project’s original schedule envisaged the start of commercial operations in the second quarter of 2029.

In November 2025, EWA had prequalified six firms for a contract to provide consultancy services for water transmission projects associated with Sitra IWPP and Hidd IWP.  

(Editing by Anoop Menon) (anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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