oa The Future of Renewable Energy in the Kingdom of Bahrain

Even though the fossil fuel is the main source of energy in the Kingdom of Bahrain today, the importance of renewable energy (RE) to the whole region in the near future is obviously increasing. In Bahrain, there have been several research centers developing different theoretical and experimental research work in the fields of solar and wind energy. As an example, only very limited work has been done on solar water heaters and solar absorption chillers for air–conditioning. In the field of wind energy only few preliminary studies of the wind energy potential have been carried out. The details of these research works will be presented in the full paper. Now almost more than three decades have passed, but there is not any real application in solar or wind energy in the country because of number of reasons:

• Cheap energy in the country - renewable energy is unable to compete;
• Bahrain is a small island and land is quite expensive. Most of solar energy projects need vast area which is not available;
• There is no legislation for connecting the electricity output from solar or wind power plants to the government grid;
• The awareness among different segments of the society is not enough.

There should be national and regional strategies to make RE sources as an alternative to fossil fuels. With financial strength and stability in hand, the region can join global experts to bring the change. The presentation will tackle how to overcome these difficulties and challenges.