Bahrain's Ministry of Electricity and Water Affairs announced on Thursday the launch of an international tender inviting proposals for a multi-site, grid-connected solar photovoltaic power project with a minimum total capacity of 72 megawatts.

The project would be procured on Build-Own-Operate-Maintain (BOOM) basis under a 20-Year period Contract, the ministry said in a press statement.

The project will comprise rooftop, ground-mounted, car park solar power systems and EV charging stations at Bahrain International circuit, University of Bahrain, Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority and Al Dana Amphitheatre, the statement said.

Documents are available till 17 September 2022 and last date for submissions is 16 October 2022, according to tender details posted on the Bahrain Tender Board website.

To qualify for the tender, bidders need to be engaged in the business of solar PV energy and have successfully commissioned at least 10 grid-tied solar PV projects (out of which at least 5 are Solar PV car park projects). Additionally, bidders should be commissioned at least 40 MWac grid-tied solar PV projects in any country globally in the last three years (2019 - 2021).

The primary Bidder of an individual company or a consortium must be a local company (including GCC) and registered in Bahrain or GCC countries engaged in the business of solar PV energy.

Yasser bin Ebrahim Humaidan, Bahrain's Minister of Electricity and Water Affairs said, "The launch of this tender comes as part of the Kingdom's wider vision to adopt a circular carbon economy, with the aim to bring carbon emissions in Bahrain to net zero by 2060 in line with its national commitments to protect the environment and combat climate change.”

(Writing by SA Kader; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)