The Kingdom of Bahrain is mulling supplying surplus electricity to Europe in the winters, when demand falls in the Middle East, media reports said. Sustainable Energy Authority president Dr Abdulhussain Mirza said the plan could help meet Europe’s peak demand in winter on a barter basis.
He told the media, “The six GCC countries are now joined together via the power grid through cables laid over on land and under the sea. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar joined the power grid in 2009, and later Oman and the UAE were linked in 2011, and now if any country needs extra electricity during the summer or other peak periods, it automatically gets it through this grid. This was the first stage. It has been successful and saved lots of money.
”The Dammam-headquartered GCC Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) was set up in 2001 with the mandate to interlink the six Gulf countries. He said the second stage of the plan is to further link the GCC power grid with the Arab countries network, adding they already were in talks with Saudi Arabia and Egypt.”
Dr Mirza further revealed that Bahrain is planning to use solar panels and offshore wind turbines on and around the planned King Hamad Causeway. The new 25 kilometre long new King Hamad Causeway will link Bahrain to Saudi Arabia.
During the first nine months of 2020, Bahrain awarded around 134 tenders in the oil sector worth $733.8 million, according to Bahrain’s Tender Board. Overall, Bahrain awarded a total of 1022 tenders worth $2.7 billion during the same period. The majority of the contracts were for the oil sector, followed by construction and engineering and the materials, equipment and services sectors.