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Abu Dhabi to award $1.5b power project by year-end

ABU DHABI — Abu Dhabi’s power projects are progressing well, as Shuwaihat-2 — a 1,500 megawatt power plant, will be commissioned next year, the sources said on Sunday.

“The contract to build another 1,600- megawatt power plant in the same area will be awarded towards the year-end,” the source said on the sidelines of the three-day Power Generation and Water Middle East show in Abu Dhabi 
on Sunday.

Another source said that the bids are being evaluated for the second power plant costing $1.5 billion. The source said that five consortiums had submitted their offers for the project and after evaluting the bids, the authority is expected to award the engineering, procurement and construction contract by the year-end.

Abu Dhabi Water and Power Authority, or ADWEA, is setting up the Shuwaihat-2 power plant on build own and operate, or BOO, basis. The $2.8 billion project on natural gas will generate 1,500-megawatt electricity and desalinate 100 million gallon of water. ADWEA has 60 per cent stake while Marubeni Corporation of Japan and France’s GDF SUEZ each have 20 per cent interest in the project.

Earlier, Abdulla Saif Al Nuaimi, Chief Executive Officer of Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, popularly known as Taqa, opened the show in which 117 exhibitors from 26 countries are participating.

Al Nuaimi said the planning, sustainability and supply are the key issues that ‘we have highlighted in our strategic plan and with the support of Public Private Partnerships (PPP) we are confident of achieving our objectives.’

The event is focusing on the region’s strategy approach to power and water supply, highlighting the considerable opportunities for companies operating in the water and power sectors.

Anita Mathews, Exhibition Director at event organiser IIR Middle East, referring to a recent industry research, said that primary energy demand will increase 71 per cent by 2019 in the country and that the UAE would need to increase its output by at least five per cent per annum to meet that demand until 2020.

“Currently there are almost $1.4 trillion worth of development projects planned or under way throughout the GCC countries, with the UAE responsible for over 50 per cent of those projects,” she said.

In the power and water sector, she said, ‘Abu Dhabi has committed to spend $16.3 billion over the next five years alone.’

The UAE currently also has one of the highest rates of water consumption in the world and with almost 17 per cent of the UAE’s population under the age of 15 domestic water consumption is bound to rise considerably over the next 10 to 20 years, apart from commercial and industrial demand,” added Mathews.

haseeb@khaleejtimes.com