Kuwait invites bids for desert solar power project

• Pre-qualified companies invited
• Initial capacity of 500MW
• 30-year power purchase

Kuwait has invited pre-qualified companies to bid for a major solar power project in its desert within a push to expand renewable sources in its energy mix and tackle persistent electricity shortages.

The Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects (KAPP), which is spearheading the Gulf state’s drive to encourage private investment, said consortia and companies that had been pre-qualified by relevant authorities can now submit bids for the Al Dibdibah Power and Al Shagaya Renewable Energy (Phase III) Zone 2 project.

The project, with an initial capacity of 500MW, will be backed by a 30-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Ministry of Electricity and Water and Renewable Energy (MEWRE), according to an announcement by KAPP on the social media platform X.

The project is located in Al Shagaya, nearly 100km west of the capital Kuwait City, and is part of a long-term plan to boost reliance on renewable energy sources and save the Gulf country’s hydrocarbon wealth for export.

Prequalified consortia for the 1,100MW Al Dibdibah Power and Al Shagaya Renewable Energy (Phase III) Zone 1 were announced on July 30, 2024. 

Shortlisted groups included France’s TotalEnergies with Vietnam’s Trung Nam Construction Investment Corporation, Saudi Acwa Power with Kuwait’s Alternative Energy Projects Company, Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) with local company Fouad Alghanim & Sons General Trading and Contracting and other companies.

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The multi-phase Shagaya project, spanning nearly 84 square kilometres, comprises multiple renewable technologies and grid infrastructure.

Kuwait said last month it has awarded a contract to a Chinese government company to build a solar plant within Al Shagaya complex that will eventually generate a total 4,800MW of electricity by 2028.

Kuwait, which controls the world’s sixth largest recoverable oil deposits, has suffered from a widening power supply gap over the past few years, mainly because domestic demand outstripped power production.