Kuwait to issue tender for $1.2bn solar project in 2018

Kuwait will issue a tender for the $1.2bn Dibdibah solar power project in the first quarter of next year, according to reports.

Bloomberg cited Kuwait Petroleum’s deputy CEO of planning and finance Shukri AbdulAziz Al-Mahrous as conforming the plans and the $1.2bn cost.

Companies have been given a September 7 deadline to express interest.

He said the 1GW project would produce half of the country’s planned renewable energy output as it moves ahead with plans to cover 15 per cent of its power needs with clean energy by 2030.

The project comes in part to save crude oil for export from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ fifth largest producer.

“By freeing up the resources, the crude and fuel oil, you can process them and have a highly valued product,” Al-Mahrous was quoted as saying. “Everything you don’t use has value for the country.”

The 32 sqkm Dibdibah plant, in the country’s northwest, is scheduled for completion by the end of 2020.

It is estimated to save the country 5.2 million barrels of oil a year upon completion and reduce carbon emissions by 1.3 million tonnes annually.

Ministry of Electricity and Water data shows the country consumes up to 14GW of electricity a day during the summer months out of a capacity of 17GW.

Al-Mahrous said the oil industry was the country’s biggest power user and planned to meet 15 per cent of its energy needs with renewables by 2020.