Bahrain Photovoltaic Solar Panels

After the establishment of the Sustainable Energy Unit (SEU) in Bahrain in 2014, a radical transition toward launching solar energy projects can clearly be observed. The SEU was established in collaboration between the national government and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

None of the participants mentioned any reported barriers to installation of solar PV in Bahrain. This is likely because solar panel installation is relatively new in Bahrain and the participants were not clear on the specifics involved. Effective dissemination of information is necessary, as explained later.

This is good news for Solar One, Bahrain's first solar panels company. Since its founding in 2017, the startup boasts of contributing over two megawatts of solar to the country's energy mix — enough to power around 380 US homes. It's a drop in the ocean, but it hopefully marks the beginning of a sea change.

Although there are fewer peer-reviewed studies on the social aspects of solar PV compared to technical studies, the present research sheds light on public perspectives on this topic in Bahrain. In fact, it used a cross-sectional design for this purpose.

According to the cross tabulation results, majority of participants who were willing to pay the full cost of residential solar PV systems were Bachelor degree holders with the average per-capita monthly income for Bahrainis.

Bahrain receives approximately 6 kWh/m² /day of solar radiation ( Alnaser et al., 2014 ). The country's global horizontal irradiance is 2160 kWh/m² /year, while direct normal radiation is 2050 kWh/m² /year ( IRENA,, 2014 ). In 2016, the average daily sunshine hours exceeded 10 hours, further emphasizing the potential for solar energy in Bahrain ( IGA,, 2016 ).