Bahrain’s Electricity and Water Authority (EWA) has said that the second phase of the Al Dur 2 Independent Water and Power Project will start operations by early June 2020.

According to a report by Bahrain News Agency, the project – which is being developed in cooperation with the Kingdom’s private sector, aims to reflect the government’s commitment to delivering comprehensive economic development, in line with the principles of Bahrain’s Economic Vision 2030.

“With the launch of the Al Dur 1, the total production capacity has reached 3921 MW and 179 million imperial gallons per day, representing a 45.9% uplift in electricity production and a 36.6% increase in water production,” said Dr Abdul Hussain bin Ali Mirza, Minister of Electricity and Water Affairs.

He went on to highlight that under the leadership of HRH, the Crown Prince of Bahrain, the Government Executive Committee had been instrumental in the delivery of the project’s second phase, adding that the project represents an important initiative to strengthen Bahrain’s energy sector, and increase investment.

The initial phase of the project will have a generation capacity of 800MW, which will then expand to 1,500MW once completed in June 2022. The desalination capacity will be 25 million gallons per day.

Dr Mirza added that in 2008, EWA had awarded a $2.2 billion contract to a consortium led by Suez Energy International to own and operate Phase One of the project, which produces 1234MW of power within the 48 million gallons per day plant.

Furthermore, in February 2012, Mott MacDonald was granted a $1 million contract to oversee the technical implementation of the project, the report said. Once Phase Two becomes operational, the total production capacity will hit 5421MW and 229 million imperial gallons per day. This represents a 38.2% increase in electricity production capacity, and a 27.9% increase in current water production capacity, it concluded.