State-owned Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy for the construction of a 1-gigawatt (GW) capacity solar power plant.

In a report on Thursday, newspapers in the OPEC producer said the deal was signed on Wednesday and is intended to “coordinate efforts and remove all obstacles” for the project, which will account for six percent of Kuwait’s power output.

Kuwait has set a target to expand renewable energy share to 15 percent of total capacity, including nearly 17GW generated by the country’s oil sector.

The report did not provide project details but in January the Company invited firms to submit expression of interest for developing a 1.1GW solar power plant at Al-Shagaya renewable energy complex, nearly 100km west of the capital Kuwait City.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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