Minister visits Avenues complex

Manama, Aug. 16 (BNA): Electricity and Water Affairs Minister Dr. Abdulhussain Mirza paid an inspection visit to the installation of solar energy systems in the multi-storey parking lot of the Avenues Complex. He was received by company’s Managing Director Dr. Maher Al-Shaer, consulting company officials, those from the Electricity and Water Authority, the Sustainable Energy Unit, and the United Nations Development Programme. The minister was briefed on the progress of the installation of solar energy systems in the new parking building complex, which would produce about 250 kilowatts of solar energy. Dr. Mirza said this visit was in the light of the keen interest of the Government of Bahrain to benefit from clean energy to achieve national goals approved by the Council of Ministers to increase the share of renewable. He thanked the management of Avenues Mall and the consulting company, Mohammed Salahuddin Consulting Engineering Bureau, for the initiative to benefit from clean energy in some of the facilities of the complex and their efforts to contribute to the achievement of national goals. He said the contribution of the private sector has an important role to achieve rationalization of consumption of natural resources in various sectors, including commercial, industrial and residential. He said it constitutes a positive boost towards achieving international commitments in energy efficiency and renewable energy. The minister said they started to coordinate and communicate with Avenues during the construction phase last year to present the idea of merging the solar energy systems within the construction plan of the complex. He said this received positive response and encouragement from the management, which began to implement it and incorporated in the engineering drawings. The complex has installed solar systems on the roof of the multi-storey parking lot as an initiative to produce clean energy. They have installed 880 solar panels producing about 250 kilowatts of electricity. The complex is connected to the Net Metering system, which calculates units produced from solar energy and deducts them from the monthly electricity bill. The main contractor installed a large number of solar panels in a record period of only four days, and the whole project took less than seven months. The management of the complex expressed its sincere thanks and gratitude to the minister and officials for their support and for providing all possible assistance in the implementation of solar energy solutions at the project.