‘Invest more in renewable resources’

Manama  : Investing more in renewable resources that will not run out, and not harm the environment will see the effective growth of National energy security of the Kingdom, said Electricity and Water Affairs Minister Dr. Abdulhussain Mirza.

The Minister was speaking at the opening ceremony of Solar One manufacturing plant, south of Alba yesterday.

“The plant is a distinctive initiative to support Bahrain’s policy of encouraging investment and use of solar energy to produce electricity,” the minister said while hailing the plant as an important milestone in Bahrain’s renewable energies strategies, putting Bahrain firmly at the forefront of the solar map.

The plant is the first phase of the project and will have a sizeable production capacity of the order of 60,000 panels per year which can produce 15 MW of electricity per annum. 

“This means that a good proportion of the panels requirements not only in Bahrain, but also in the GCC will be provided by Bahrain Solar One,’ the minister said.

Solar One is currently in the process of obtaining TUV German quality assurance to be at the high end choice of panels buyers in the Kingdom.

The Minister also stressed that during the past five years, the energy efficiency and the renewable energy has been at the focus of the Ministry’s attention.

“Sustainable Energy Unit (SEU) is responsible for establishing strategies that promote energy efficiency and reduce pollution emitted from thermal power plants. So the establishment of this unit is very important to us. The Cabinet recently approved to place the SEU in the Government Priority framework,” he said. 

The Minister also stated that the Cabinet endorsed the National Plan for Energy Efficiency (NEEAP) and the National Plan for Renewable Energy (NREAP), both    prepared by SEU.