Bahrain's Electricity and Water Authority (EWA) has opened bids for the Sitra Independent Water and Power Production (IWPP) project, one of the Kingdom's largest planned utility developments.

According to bid opening results, proposals were submitted by Saudi Arabia-listed ACWA and the UAE-listed Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA).

EWA recorded ACWA Power's bid as accepted, while TAQA's bid was accepted with conditions.

The tender was opened on 18 June. Bid tariffs weren't disclosed.

The project is planned to be developed under a Build-Own-Operate (BOO) model.

According to tender documents, the power facility will be designed to provide a Guaranteed Net Contracted Power Capacity (GNCPC) of between 1,400 megawatts (MW) and 1,500MW.

The project will also include a seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant with a Guaranteed Net Contracted Water Capacity (GNCWC) of 5,682 cubic metres per hour (m3/h).

Six companies and a consortium had been prequalified to bid for the mega project, according to the Request for Proposal (RFP) notice issued in August 2025.

The seven prequalified bidders included TAQA, 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).

(Writing by SA Kader; Editing by Anoop Menon) 

(anoop.menon@lseg.com) 

Subscribe to our Projects' PULSE newsletter that brings you trustworthy news, updates and insights on project activities, developments, and partnerships across sectors in the Middle East and Africa.