Kuwait’s MEWRE, through the Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects (Kapp), has invited interested companies to submit their statements of qualifications (SOQs) by 7 March, 2024 for a 1,100 MW solar IPP scheme in Jahra governorate. The tender covers the development, financing, design, procurement, engineering, construction, testing, commissioning, operation, maintenance and transfer of the Al Dibdibah Power and Al Shagaya Renewable Energy – Phase III – Zone 1 Solar PV IPP. The project will benefit from power purchase agreement (PPA) with MEWRE as the off taker for a 30-year term. KAPP, and MEWRE are assisted by Ernst & Young as Lead & Financial Advisor, DLA Piper as Legal Advisor and DNV as Technical & Environmental Advisor. (January 2024)

• KISR has appointed Lahmeyer International and Fichtner of Germany to conduct feasibility study and detailed designs to develop renewable energy projects. (2011)
• Companies have been invited to submit a letter of interest (LoI) for the Phase II development of a planned 1GW Al-Dibdibah photovoltaic (PV) solar project at the Al-Shagaya renewable energy complex. The tendering process for the plant is expected to begin in July 2017. LoIs are to be submitted to Worley Parsons of US, which is the owner’s representative. (February 2017)
• Firms have been invited to submit pre-qualification documents by 7 September, 2017 for the development of a planned 1GW Al-Dibdibah photovoltaic (PV) solar project. (June 2017)
• KNPC has extended the deadline to submit pre-qualification documents by 3 weeks to 28 September, 2017 for the development of a planned 1GW Al-Dibdibah photovoltaic (PV) solar project. The tender is expected to be issued in Q1 of 2018. (September 2017)
• The client is in process of evaluating the pre-qualification entries submitted by about 60 firms for the Dibdibah solar power plant. (October 2017)
• KNPC has pre-qualified about 15 firms for the Al-Dibdibah solar power plant. The pre-qualification entries were received from 60 companies in September, 2017. The pre-qualifiers will be announced soon. (March 2018)
• KNPC has issued tender for its planned 1 GW al-Dibdidah photovoltaic (PV) solar project. The bids submission deadline for the engineering, procurement and construction, and finance (EPC+F) contract is 16 December, 2018. (September 2018)
• Kuwait’s Public Authority for Industry (PAI) has signed a MoU with Equate Petrochemical Company and the National Technology Enterprise Company (NTEC) to install a rooftop solar facility on the PAI office. This is is part of Kuwait’s ambitious 2030 renewable energy target. (November 2018)
• Bids for the engineering, procurement and construction, and finance (EPC+F) contract are due to be submitted by 29 January, 2019. (January 2019)
• The bids submission deadline for the EPC+F contract has been extended to 3 March, 2019. (January 2019)
• Bids submission deadline for the EPC+F contract has been extended to 16 April, 2019. (March 2019)
• The seven groups have submitted bids for the second phase of the Shagaya renewable energy complex, which is a 1.5GW PV project. The bidders are: Metallurgical Corporation of China, Al-Mulla Group of Kuwait, China Communications Construction Company, Gopco General Gulf Contracting, Maessa Telecommunications of Spain / Ingenieria of Spain / Alghanim International Trading & Contracting of Kuwait, Shanghai Electric of China / China Triumph International Engineering, CCC of Lebanon / Prodiel of Spain / Orascom of Egypt / TBEA of China. Metallurgical Corporation of China has submitted the lowest bid of 11.2 fils/kWh. (April 2019)
• Client is still evaluating bids received from seven groups for the 1.5GW PV project. (July 2019)
• KNPC to start arranging loan of approximately $1.1 billion by local asset management firm KAMCO Investment Company who had been appointed as the financial advisor for the Solar Energy Project. KNPC has agreed to complete the project either by bearing the total cost or by paying 30% of the total cost and allowing banks to pay the remaining 70% in the form of loans. The total cost of the project is about $1.6 billion. (September 2019)
• The bidders are awaiting decision on solar project award. (November 2019)
• The Government of Kuwait has reportedly cancelled its plans to build Al-Dibdibah solar plant because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Kuwaiti cabinet statement said that the government’s decision to cancel the solar power project will contribute to the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation “focusing on its priorities for the coming stage and maintaining its position in the global oil markets.” (July 2020)
• Kuwait is planning to push ahead with the planned 1.5GW Al-Dibdibah solar scheme as an independent power producer (IPP) project, having recently cancelled the tender for the project. The Council of Ministers has now officially assigned Kuwait’s public-private body, KAPP to tender the project as an IPP project. The client for the original tender had been the Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC). The pre-qualification stage will begin in Q1, 2021. (July 2020)
• KAPP has invited consultants to submit bids by 27 June, 2021 for advisory roles (consultancy services contracts) on the planned 1.5GW Al-Dibdibah solar project. The project had been previously tendered under an engineering, procurement and construction plus finance (EPC+F) model but now it will be procured using an independent power producer model. (June 2021)
• Bids submission deadline has been extended to 27 July, 2021 for the consultancy services contract for the planned 1.5 GW Al-Dibdibah solar project. (July 2021)
• The bids submission deadline has been extended to 7 September, 2021 for advisory roles on the planned 1.5 GW Al-Dibdibah solar project. (August 2021)
• KAPP has received proposals from consultants for the planned Al-Dibdibah solar project, which is expected to have a capacity of up to 3 GW. Seven bidders have submitted the proposals: AlGhanim Wormald of Kuwait, Engineering Systems Group (ESG) of Kuwait, EY, Khatib & Alami Consulting Engineers Offshore-S.A.L, PWC, RINA Consulting S.P.A., WSP International LLC. Financial proposals will be disclosed upon evaluation of the bidders’ proposals. The consultant shall conduct a study that will create different renewable energy optimization scenarios for the available land of the project. There will be several designs for scenarios, each representing either the lowest levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), maximum annual energy generation, load peak shaving during summer, and offer grid-stability to the countries’ energy system. The power plant output will be purchased by MEW under a Power Purchase Agreement for period of 25 years. (October 2021)
• KAPP is set to award the transaction advisory contract in the first half of 2022 for the planned 1.5 GW Al-Dibdibah solar project (Phase II) and 2 GW Phase III of the Shagaya renewable energy project (SREP). The transaction adviser will be asked to consider all options, including solar PV, wind and CSP technologies. The project or projects will be developed using a design, finance, build, operate, maintain and transfer model. The selected developers will sign a power-purchase agreement with Kuwait's Ministry of Electricity & Water for up to 25 years from the project's commercial operation date. (February 2022)
• Kuwait is considering implementing the Shagaya renewable energy project (SREP) in two stages - stage 1, with 1,000 MW of capacity, and stage 2, with a 2,000 MW capacity. Each stage is expected to have solar PV, wind and CSP components. For the transaction advisory contract, two consortiums separately by EY and PWC passed the technical evaluation stage for the contract. (March 2022)
• KAPP has awarded the consultancy services contract to a consortium of companies led by Ernst & Young of UK for the planned 1.5 GW Al-Dibdibah solar project and stage 2, with a 2,000 MW capacity of the SREP. The winning consultant alliance will undertake the preparation and completion of the project’s feasibility study and the work related to the proposal process which includes, but is not limited to, the preparation of qualification and tender documents, procedures for qualifying investors, supervising the technical, financial, legal, and environmental areas of the project, and coordinating with investors until the end of the financial close in accordance with Kuwait’ law. KAPP has signed the contract after being granted approvals from the respective regulatory authorities, in cooperation with the Ministry of Electricity and Water and Renewable Energy, being the government authority concerned with the project, as well as the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research. (September 2022)
• Kuwait’s MEWRE is set to issue the RFQ for the various phases of the much-delayed 4 GW Shagaya solar power project worth $3.9bln by the end of this year and all the phases are expected to be connected to the grid by 2027-28. The proposed project is being tendered as an Independent Power Project (IPP) with MEWRE as the off-taker for the electricity generated. Phase 1 of the Shagaya project will be 1,100 MWac (Megawatt, Alternating Current) and be fully based on photovoltaic (PV) solar technology. The RFQ document for Phase 1 is ready and will be launched by December, 2023. Phase 2 will comprise a 200 MW Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant with around five hours of storage capacity. Phase 3 will be 1,500 MWac and the final phase will be 1,700 MWac. The RFP will be released by the middle of next year. Phases 3 and 4 will adopt similar technologies. MEWRE has completed feasibility and technical studies, but the developer may need to study further and decide on specific technologies. The Shagaya project was first announced a decade ago, shelved due to Covid and underwent several changes in its configuration. (October 2023)