Kuwait’s Electricity, Water & Renewable Energy Ministry (MEWRE), through the Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects (Kapp), is expected to issue a decision on the prequalified companies that can bid for the first phase of Kuwait’s Shagaya Renewable Energy Project (SREP), a local media report said.

The 1,100MW solar photovoltaic (PV) independent power producer (IPP) project is located in the Jahra governorate, about 100 kilometres from the capital, Kuwait City.

Kapp issued the request for qualifications for the contract in January this year.

MEED understands the companies that submitted their statements of qualifications include Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power, China’s Jinko Power and Japan’s Jera.

MEED reported in April that the authorities were still reviewing the prequalification documents submitted by interested bidders.

The project comprises the Al-Dibdibah and Shagaya renewable energy phase three, zone one project, Kapp said when it issued the request for qualifications to interested bidders in January.

The succeeding phases of the project are understood to be:

• Phase 2: 200MW
• Phase 3: 1,500MW
• Phase 4: 4,500MW   

The qualification documents are being prepared for the project’s second phase.

In August 2022, a team led by London-headquartered consultancy firm EY won the transaction advisory contract for the next phases of Kuwait’s renewable energy programme.

London-headquartered DLA Piper is the legal adviser, while Norwegian engineering services firm DNV is the client’s technical and environmental adviser.

The Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (Kisr), in partnership with the electricity ministry, developed the first phase of SREP. This comprised a 50MW parabolic trough concentrated solar power plant and a wind and solar PV plant, each with a 10MW capacity.

2030-50 strategy

Kuwait aims to have a renewable energy installed capacity of 22,100MW by 2030 as part of its new 20-year strategy, which ends in 2050, announced in March.

Electricity, Water & Renewable Energy Minister Salem Falah Al-Hajraf confirmed that the strategy also involves installing distributed or rooftop solar farms, with the state procuring the energy output from solar PV farms.

Kuwait aims to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2060.