Kuwait Finance House - Bahrain announced that it is the official financier of a solar farm located in the Bahrain International Circuit, home of motorsports in the Middle East, following the construction and operation of the project by Sakhir Solar, an IREC Energy Group Company. This step comes in line with the implementation of the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, which is concerned with targeting the Kingdom of Bahrain to reach net zero carbon emissions in the year 2060, with the aim of confronting challenges such as climate change and environmental protection. This initiative also falls under the umbrella of KFH-Bahrain’s social responsibility, where the Bank seeks to play an active role in developing the sustainable energy sector to reduce carbon emissions and achieve comprehensive sustainable development.

Commenting on the occasion, Ms. Ranya Mohammed Rashid, Head of SME Banking at KFH–Bahrain said: “We are proud to be officially funding this leading project, as it is expected to deliver ample energy to power the entire Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix. This project comes as part of the Kingdom of Bahrain’s commitment to urge all institutions to increase the use of renewable energy in the Kingdom.”

“KFH-Bahrain has always been keen on adopting initiatives concerned with achieving sustainable development goals, by producing clean energy at reasonable prices, in addition to the goals of climate action. Hence, the funding for this project goes in line with our social responsibility commitment to support the Kingdom’s march towards generating sustainable energy,” she added.

“It gives us great pleasure to cooperate with KFH-Bahrain to finance the project of building a solar energy farm at the Bahrain International Circuit, which also supports the Kingdom’s endeavors directed towards reducing carbon emission by generating clean and renewable energy. We look forward to continuing to enrich this partnership, and to engage in further initiatives and projects that benefit and elevate the Kingdom of Bahrain,” commented Dr. Bassem Abdullah, Chairman of Sakhir Solar.

The project includes the installation of a solar power plant with a capacity of 3.9 megawatts by Sakhir Solar, as well as car parking shades at Bahrain International Circuit for 20 years. In addition, the project will include the use of 7125 solar panels capable of producing energy from both sides and with a basic capacity of 545 watts for each solar panel, equipped with robotic arms that operate automatically to clean the panels periodically, which were manufactured specifically for this project. The project contains the first station for fast electric charging of electric cars in the Kingdom. This initiative supports the Kingdom’s commitment to increasing the use of renewable energy and the Formula 1 plan to reduce zero carbon emissions by 2030, and save the total cost of energy.