Bahrain's Electricity and Water Authority (EWA) has announced the launch of an international tender for the development of the Sitra Independent Water and Power Production Plant (IWPP), with a planned capacity of 1,400 -1,500 MW of electricity and 30 million imperial gallons per day (MIGD) of potable water.

The project will be implemented through a strategic partnership with the private sector under a build-own-operate (BOO) system.

EWA said it has pre-qualified six leading project developers for the project as well as a consortium. These are leading global players including Japanese groups Jera and Sumitomo Corporation and Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) as well as regional players such as Saudi utility major Acwa Power, UAE-based Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) and Kuwait’s Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC),

The consortium comprises Chinese companies – China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEMC) and China Datang (Overseas Hong Kong), said EWA.

Announcing the tender, EWA President Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed said the Sitra project will be developed using the latest global technologies of high operational efficiency and quality standards in the field of electricity generation and seawater desalination using reverse osmosis (RO) technology.

The operational testing phase and initial commercial operation of 600MW of electricity and 30 MIGD of water are expected to begin in the second quarter of 2028, with the full commercial operation of the plant scheduled for the second quarter of 2029, he stated.

 The EWA President said the Sitra project comes following the launch of an international tender for the establishment of the Al Hidd Independent Water Production Plant with a capacity of 60 MIGD, as well as the announcement of the commencement of work on Bahrain’s first solar-powered electricity and water production plant, in cooperation with the private sector. The plant will have a production capacity of around 150MW, with its tender scheduled to be launched in the fourth quarter of this year.