Bahrain will now be capable of utilizing renewable energy in the form of solar and wind power in three years.
The announcement was made by the government officials at the Electricity and Water Authority to announce the completion of the two phases of the GCC power grid. The $1.2billion (BHD452 million) grid connects Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar to a single power line. It’s objective is helping any GCC state troubled from a sudden disturbances in its power supply. They have reported that the project is also projected to save money as the member countries will have to build fewer power stations as a result.
“We expect to start using renewable energy in Bahrain in nearly three years,” said Electricity and Water Authority (EWA) Chief Executive Abdul Majeed Ali Alawadhi.
Alawadhi said the grid can also be used to circulate nuclear energy if member states adopted such projects. In this regard, a committee had been formed that consists of Industry and Commerce Ministry officials, the EWA, National Oil and Gas Authority, Bapco, Alba, Bahrain University and the Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife.
“The committee held its first meeting last month where they drew up a plan to develop two solar and wind energy,” Alawadhi said. Bahrain will get advantage from this plan as it can reduce gas and oil dependence and can reduce pollution.
Member countries of GCC power grid get three main advantages, said Alawadhi.
“One benefit is that if any GCC country faces a power crisis especially in summer, they will be immediately supplied with additional power from the grid,” Alawadhi said.
“This leads to the second benefit – protecting the reserves of each country. This move automatically makes the entire project feasible because the benefits outweigh the costs.” Bahrain is currently using 300MW of reserves and the grid has helped to reduce this to 150MW, Alawadhi said.
“Therefore, this will reduce the total power capacity used by Bahrain from 2800MW to 2600MW, enabling us to invest this amount in other areas.”
The decision of first and second phases included connecting Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait to the GCC Power Grid. The process is part of a GCC power link that will include Oman and the UAE later. The third phase will be implemented in two parts. The first will see the UAE linked to the main power grid in Saudi Arabia, which is expected to finish in 2011. The agreement for implementing the second part, to link the UAE and Oman networks, is under study to determine the best possible means of adopting the process.
Al Awadhi said the UAE connection will improve the total cost of the project to $1.4 million. The second phase is projected to cost between $50 million to $80 million.
“However Bahrain hasn’t had power cuts due to production or transportation problems since 2004 and our studies have concluded that the majority of power cuts caused by distribution issues,” Alawadhi said. “But the GCC power grid has nothing to do with the distribution process of the power supply in each country. “Such power cuts have decreased over time and with the help of the grid we expect it to reduce further. However such power loses are inevitable, especially in the summer.”
“The power grid has become synchronised, which means it will immediately fix any power cuts suffered by any member country,” said GCC Interconnection Authority acting chief executive officer Mohammed Al Shaikh. “This reduction in the supply of reserves will save nearly $3 billion.”
“We want to create an Arab power grid by linking the GCC grid to the rest of the Arab world,” Al Shaikh said.
“The generation and usage of nuclear energy is currently on the Arab and GCC agenda and if any GCC country adopts this method of energy then the grid would be of great use,” Alawadhi said. “A committee has been set up to draw up plans to generate nuclear energy in the Gulf, but they are expecting it to fully come into use in 15 years.”
The power grid project was started around seven years after being approved by GCC heads of state in mid-1990s. GCC Interconnection Authority has overseen this project. Bahrain signed an agreement in March 2009 enabling it to import up to 600 MW a day from the grid, or up to 1,200MW during emergencies. The country has so far paid $134 million (BHD50.6 million) towards its $1.2 billion (BHD452 million) bill for connecting the grid.
