Bahrain's first privately-operated power and water plant, run by the Hidd Power Company (HPC), will celebrate its fifth anniversary next month.

The company was set up with an investment of BD452 million ($1.2 billion) in July 2006, after the ownership of the Bahrain government-operated Hidd Power Plant was transferred to a consortium of International Power and Sumitomo Corporation.

Since then it has produced more than 22,000,000 MW hours of electricity and more than 100 billion gallons of water for the kingdom, said HPC executive managing director Andrew Biffen.

'We have been doing extremely well over the last five years since the plant was privatised and last year supplied 35 per cent of Bahrain's total electricity and 66 per cent of water demand,' he said during a press conference at the HPC offices in Hidd.

'We are well poised to meet demands for power and water in the coming years and have taken care we operate to the highest possible standards and optimum efficiency.'

He said the plant generates electricity and steam by burning natural gas in five large gas turbines and related heat recovery boilers. 'The steam is then used to power water distillation vessels which convert sea water to high quality drinking water.'

He said the plant has an electrical capacity of 1000MW, equivalent to 1.34m horsepower. 'It can also produce 90m gallons of drinking water per day, which is equivalent to 1040 gallons per second.'

He said the HPC also contributes 992MW of power to the national grid of a total installed capacity of 2,797MW, with the rest being contributed by Al Ezzel, Riffa, Sitra and Muharraq.

'We have now prepared ourselves well for the summer and are geared to meet any eventuality. In addition, our share of water to the national pool is 90 million gallons per day (MGPD), of a total installed capacity of 143 MGPD.'

The HPC employs 63 Bahraini staff, mostly transferred from the Electricity and Water Authority when its ownership changed.

'We are committed to Bahrainisation and will look at training more and more Bahrainis to work in the plant. 'As Bahrain's infrastructure expands, it increases our need for essential water and electricity resources and HPC provides these utilities enabling Bahrain's growth while ensuring care for its people, community, and the environment.'-TradeArabia News Service