04 April 2012
USCAT -- ACWA Power Barka, which owns and operates an Independent Water and Project at Barka (also known as the Barka 1 IWPP), has offered to increase the capacity of its water desalination plant by 45,000 cubic metres per day (10 million imperial gallons per day - MIGD).
The offer is set out in a proposal submitted to the Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP), which is the sole procurer of all new electricity generation and related water desalination capacity under the Sector Law. The proposal, if approved by the state-owned procurement company, will result in a 50 per cent increase in Barka 1's current desalination capacity of 91,000 m3/day (20 MIGD).
ACWA's expansion offer is one of several options being weighed by OPWP as it ponders ways to address a projected shortfall in water desalination capacity within the 'Interconnected Zone' at various periods over the next seven years (2012-2018).
This zone, which accounts for the bulk of desalinated water demand in the Sultanate, covers the requirements of the governorates of Muscat, Batinah North and South, Buraimi, Al Dakhiliya and Al Dhahirah.
This vast zone is served by served by four major desalination projects: Ghubrah Power & Desalination Plant -- 182,000 m3/day capacity (40 MIGD); Barka 1 -- 91,200 m3/day (20 MIGD); Barka 2 -- 120,000 m3/day (26 MIGD) and Sohar 1 -- 150,000 m3/day (33 MIGD).
While part of this capacity, totalling 549,000 m3/day (121 MIGD) as of 2012, is expected to fall out of contract due the expiration of existing water purchase agreements, new capacity will be added through contract extensions, expansions and the procurement of new water desalination capacity.
One concrete initiative to bridge the demand-supply gap is the new Ghubrah Independent Water Project (IWP) currently under tender. Upon commissioning in April 2014, the project will add 191,000 m3/day (42 MIGD) of new water desalination capacity to the Interconnected Zone.
The new IWP will also go some way in offsetting capacity slated for decommissioning at the existing Ghubrah Power and Water plant, which houses the country's first major gas-fired desalination plant. Of the seven desalination units that currently make up the plant, one was decommissioned last year. Unit 2 is scheduled to be phased out after the summer of 2013, while the five remaining units will fall out of contract in March 2018 Similarly, a water offtake agreement signed by OPWP with ACWA Power Barka covering the output of its Barka 1 desalination plant, is slated to expire in April 2018.
Unless extended, it will result in a reduction of the Interconnected Zone's contracted capacity by 91,000 m3/day (20 MIGD).
Outlining its strategy for mitigating capacity shortfalls, OPWP said: "The expiration of contracts at Ghubrah and Barka 1 in 2018 will cause a significant supply shortage unless they are extended or new capacity procured. OPWP expects to meet the projected capacity shortfall through a combination of contract extensions and new plants. OPWP has initiated site selection studies, at the request of the Public Authority for Electricity & Water (PAEW), for two new desalination plants serving the Interconnected Zone, to be located at Suwaiq and Qurayat. The Suwaiq plant is considered at about 225,000 m3/day (50 MIGD), to be in service in 2016, whereas the Qurayat plant is considered at about 180,000 m3/day (40 MIGD), to be in service in the 2018/2019 timeframe," the offtaker added in its newly released 7-year outlook statement.
Also available as a potential supply source is surplus capacity from a new Reverse Osmosis plant currently under development at Sohar Port.
The 20,000 m3/day (4 MIGD) capacity plant, being built by the state-owned Majees Industrial Services Company (MISC), is due to be commissioned by the end of this year.
USCAT -- ACWA Power Barka, which owns and operates an Independent Water and Project at Barka (also known as the Barka 1 IWPP), has offered to increase the capacity of its water desalination plant by 45,000 cubic metres per day (10 million imperial gallons per day - MIGD).
The offer is set out in a proposal submitted to the Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP), which is the sole procurer of all new electricity generation and related water desalination capacity under the Sector Law. The proposal, if approved by the state-owned procurement company, will result in a 50 per cent increase in Barka 1's current desalination capacity of 91,000 m3/day (20 MIGD).
ACWA's expansion offer is one of several options being weighed by OPWP as it ponders ways to address a projected shortfall in water desalination capacity within the 'Interconnected Zone' at various periods over the next seven years (2012-2018).
This zone, which accounts for the bulk of desalinated water demand in the Sultanate, covers the requirements of the governorates of Muscat, Batinah North and South, Buraimi, Al Dakhiliya and Al Dhahirah.
This vast zone is served by served by four major desalination projects: Ghubrah Power & Desalination Plant -- 182,000 m3/day capacity (40 MIGD); Barka 1 -- 91,200 m3/day (20 MIGD); Barka 2 -- 120,000 m3/day (26 MIGD) and Sohar 1 -- 150,000 m3/day (33 MIGD).
While part of this capacity, totalling 549,000 m3/day (121 MIGD) as of 2012, is expected to fall out of contract due the expiration of existing water purchase agreements, new capacity will be added through contract extensions, expansions and the procurement of new water desalination capacity.
One concrete initiative to bridge the demand-supply gap is the new Ghubrah Independent Water Project (IWP) currently under tender. Upon commissioning in April 2014, the project will add 191,000 m3/day (42 MIGD) of new water desalination capacity to the Interconnected Zone.
The new IWP will also go some way in offsetting capacity slated for decommissioning at the existing Ghubrah Power and Water plant, which houses the country's first major gas-fired desalination plant. Of the seven desalination units that currently make up the plant, one was decommissioned last year. Unit 2 is scheduled to be phased out after the summer of 2013, while the five remaining units will fall out of contract in March 2018 Similarly, a water offtake agreement signed by OPWP with ACWA Power Barka covering the output of its Barka 1 desalination plant, is slated to expire in April 2018.
Unless extended, it will result in a reduction of the Interconnected Zone's contracted capacity by 91,000 m3/day (20 MIGD).
Outlining its strategy for mitigating capacity shortfalls, OPWP said: "The expiration of contracts at Ghubrah and Barka 1 in 2018 will cause a significant supply shortage unless they are extended or new capacity procured. OPWP expects to meet the projected capacity shortfall through a combination of contract extensions and new plants. OPWP has initiated site selection studies, at the request of the Public Authority for Electricity & Water (PAEW), for two new desalination plants serving the Interconnected Zone, to be located at Suwaiq and Qurayat. The Suwaiq plant is considered at about 225,000 m3/day (50 MIGD), to be in service in 2016, whereas the Qurayat plant is considered at about 180,000 m3/day (40 MIGD), to be in service in the 2018/2019 timeframe," the offtaker added in its newly released 7-year outlook statement.
Also available as a potential supply source is surplus capacity from a new Reverse Osmosis plant currently under development at Sohar Port.
The 20,000 m3/day (4 MIGD) capacity plant, being built by the state-owned Majees Industrial Services Company (MISC), is due to be commissioned by the end of this year.
© Oman Daily Observer 2012
