Eleven firms vie for building 850MW power project in Oman

Muscat: As many as 11 multinational power companies have shown interest in building a major gas-fired independent power project, which will have a capacity of 750-850 megawatt (MW) in Misfah, about 30 kilometres from the Muscat International Airport.
It was in response to Oman Power and Water Procurement Company’s (OPWP) request for qualification (RfQ) tender for developing the new independent power project.
The companies that submitted applications for pre-qualification are Alfanar Consortium, EDF International, Enel SPA, General Electric, International Power, Korea Electric Power Corporation, MAPNA Consortium, Marubeni Corporation, Mitsui Consortium, RWE Generation and Sojitz Corporation, according to OPWP’s website.
Pre-qualification
The companies will be evaluated by the Oman Power and Water Procurement Company for selecting pre-qualified firms for bidding for the project.
As per the plan, the project is expected to be awarded by the fourth quarter of 2017 and will become commercially operational by the first quarter of 2021.
The independent power project is to be developed as a private sector project by the company that wins the concession.
Electricity demand
The scope of the project includes financing, procurement, engineering, construction, operation and maintenance of this new power generating facility with a capacity of approximately 750-850MW.
In a move to enhance power generation to meet the growing demand, several independent power projects are in different stages of planning and development.
Oman’s peak average annual growth in demand for power for the next seven years, as far as the main inter-connected system (MIS) areas are concerned, is projected to be 8 per cent, rising from 5,565 megawatt (MW) in 2015 to 9,529 MW in 2022, according to the seven-year outlook for power demand, released earlier by the Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP).
Demand for power is growing mainly due to population-driven residential growth, overall economic growth, development in industrial estates/free zones and tourism projects.
Among various projects, two major power projects — one each in Ibri and Sohar — will substantially raise the power generation capacity.
The Ibri project will start generating power in 2018, and will reach its full capacity generation level in April 2019. The Sohar independent power project, which will have a power generation capacity of 1,720 MW,will start power generation from January 2019.
In the Dhofar region, the Salalah 2 independent power project, construction for which has started, will provide 445MW upon completion in January 2018.
Also, construction work is at an advanced stage for building Musandam IPP, to supply power to the Rural Areas Electricity Company to the tune of a net firm capacity of about 123MW. The project is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2017.