Spanish EPC TSK Group has been awarded a $385 million contract to construct a 50 MW solar PV plant in the desert of Kuwait.
The installation will be located in Shagaya, near to the countrys border with Saudi Arabia and Iraq, and some 100 kilometers from the capital, Kuwait City.
The solar plant will begin its commercial operation in 2017, generating enough solar energy to meet the power needs of 100,000 local households and offsetting the carbon emissions of 12.5 million barrels of oil annually, TSK Group has calculated.
Kuwait electricity and water minister Ahmad al-Jassar has revealed that the country aims to install 4.5 GW of renewable energy capacity chiefly solar PV and wind power by 2030. The government recently signed two additional contracts to deploy two 10 MW solar PV plants earlier this year, one of which is being developed by the Kuwait Oil Company, with Spains Gestamp Solar active on the other one.
Funding for these two projects, plus the 50 MW plant in Shagaya, is being provided by the Kuwaiti government, but future solar developments in the country will be allocated to private investors interested in tapping into Kuwaits abundant solar resources.
The government anticipates that Kuwait will be able to draw on 2 GW of renewable energy by 2025 as the countrys wider energy demand grows from 12 GW currently to an estimated 30 GW by 2030.
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