MANAMA: By Nayla Barakat: Shaikh Mohamed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Minister of Oil, inaugurated Tatweer Petroleum’s 3-Megawatt Solar Power Plant, in Sakhir.
The event was attended by Dr. Abdulhussain Mirza, President of the Sustainable Energy Authority, and in the presence of executive management members from the National Oil and Gas Authority (NOGA), the Oil and Gas Holding Company (nogaholding) and its subsidiary companies, and other energy related companies.
“The Kingdom of Bahrain is focusing on fulfilling its commitments to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, in terms of developing programs and plans to protect the environment in various vital sectors due to its impact on the country and citizens,” the Minister of Oil said.
“Pointing out the efforts of NOGA and its subsidiaries in establishing a number of environmental projects in cooperation with various parties with the aim of taking appropriate measures to address the phenomena of climate and environmental changes,” he said.
He added that this plant is a distinct and ambitious step to reduce the use of natural gas to generate electricity, which contributes to the preservation of the country’s natural resources. Noting the development of plans in the investment of renewable energy such as solar power to generate electricity, which contributes in reducing the demand for the Government of Bahrain’s electricity, which is a good initiative to develop the local market for the energy production sector in the future.
The Minister appreciated the efforts of the sponsors of this environmental project, which is part of Tatweer’s contribution to the Kingdom’s goal of maintaining the use of renewable energy for its operations by 5% by 2025 in line with the strategic objectives of NOGA to achieve the Kingdom of Bahrain vision 2030.
During the opening ceremony, the team reviewed a brief overview of the project, in which several important points were mentioned related to the work of the new plant, which is expected to generate more than 5400MWh per year.
It is worth mentioning that Tatweer Petroleum company established a solar power plant in February 2016 with an estimated capacity of 1 MW connected to the electricity of Tatweer to provide enough electricity to meet the total energy requirements of the company’s headquarters in the region. The company’s excess electricity capacity will be used in another range as part of its oil field operations. The new solar power plant will also be generated with an estimated capacity of 3 MW, equivalent to the energy used by 300 Bahraini homes, bringing the company’s use of renewable energy to 6 percent. The company is keen to use the latest technologies in its field of oil exploration and production while continuing its commitment to the highest standards of health, safety and environmental protection, and the development of Bahraini cadres, which supports the company’s contribution in achieving more economic growth and social prosperity to the Kingdom.
