According to foreign media reports on September 28, a government official revealed that Kuwait will issue the Request for Qualification (RFQ) for each phase of the Shagaya Solar Power Project, which is expected to be approximately 4GW, before the end of this year.

Gannam Al Ajmi, a renewable energy project engineer at the Kuwait Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy (MEWRE), said that each phase of RFQ will be launched one after another later this year, and all projects are expected to be connected to the grid for power generation in 2027-2028.

He pointed out that the project is being tendered as an independent power generation project (IPP), and the Kuwait Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy is the power purchaser. Research data shows that Kuwait can obtain a relatively ideal levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) bid price.

According to Ajmi, technical consultants and land agreements were signed for the project last year... covering an area of approximately 87 square kilometers. The first phase of the Shagaya solar power generation project is 1,100MW, all of which is photovoltaic power generation technology. The inquiry document for the first phase of the project is currently ready and will be released within two to three months.

The second phase of the project will include a 200MW solar thermal power generation project equipped with a 5-hour energy storage system. The second phase is preparing a Request for Proposal (RFP). Kuwait had earlier considered a mix of solar thermal power (CSP), wind and photovoltaic solar technologies for the project, but later decided to opt for CSP and photovoltaics. Al Ajmi explained that CSP is suitable for Kuwait because Kuwait has relatively superior solar radiation resources. Wind power is only effective at night, but cannot meet electricity demand during peak power demand periods from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The third and fourth phases of the project are planned to be 1,500MW and 1,700MW respectively, and bidding is scheduled to begin in mid-2024. He said MEWRE has completed feasibility and technology studies, but developers may need to further study and decide on specific technologies. "We are in communication with four developers. It is expected that similar technology will be used in the third and fourth phases." Al Ajmi said.

The Shagaya project was first announced 10 years ago but was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its configuration has undergone several changes. At present, the construction of 70MW demonstration power generation projects has been completed, including 50MW trough solar thermal power generation (10 hours of energy storage), 10MW wind power and 10MW photovoltaic. These demonstration projects were put into operation in the Shagaya Desert (100 kilometers west of the capital Kuwait City) in February 2019. transport. Editor/Xu Shengpeng