Petra Solar, Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) and the National Oil & Gas Authority (NOGA) have come together to collaborate on a 5MW smart solar energy project. The announcement has been particularly welcomed by the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB).
The project will utilize smart grid technology developed by Petra Solar in order to provide solar energy at several locations around Bahrain, including the BAPCO township of Awali and the University of Bahrain. The project is expected to provide a strong R&D opportunity for Bahraini universities.
Commenting on the solar project, Kamal bin Ahmed, minister of transportation and acting chief executive of the Bahrain EDB, stated, “We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Petra Solar, BAPCO and NOGA on this agreement and are delighted that we have been able to help make this happen. Investment in this sort of technology is a key part of our plans to create high-quality jobs for Bahrainis through sustainable economic growth for the long term. Importantly, this investment will not only create jobs directly, but also create benefits for other companies by improving energy efficiency.”
Bahrain EDB has been closely involved in the development of the project since initiating discussions with Petra Solar in the US in 2010. As part of the development process, the Bahrain EDB conducted visits to Petra Solar’s offices, played an instrumental part in the committee that made the project a reality and assisted in the establishment of the company in Bahrain.
This project marks the first step in plans to build a powerful ecosystem based on Petra Solar’s technology in Awali, Bahrain. The Bahrain EDB believes that this ecosystem is “the foundation for future applications and economic and infrastructure development opportunities in Bahrain such as outage management, intelligent street lighting controls, smart meters, smart appliances, electric vehicles, HVAC communicating controllers, demand response, Volt/VAr automated management, and, optionally, community storage”.
This project will also further stamp Petra Solar’s mark in the Bahraini solar industry after it had previously announced a collaboration with NOGA, Caspian Energy Holding and BAPCO to install 5MW of solar energy across a number of locations in the country.
Gulf Daily News
6 August
