27 July 2012
MUSCAT -- The Board of Directors of ACWA Power Barka, an Oman-based public joint stock company engaged in power generating and water desalination project, approved the undertaking of a Seawater Reverse Osmosis Expansion Project to produce 10 million imperial gallons a day of desalinated water. In its meeting held last week, the board also reviewed and approved proposal to enter into an amended and restated loan agreement to refinance the existing loan facility and to finance the expansion project, together with all related documents.
The company in a notification informed the Muscat Securities Market that it will convene an ordinary general meeting of the shareholders in this regard. Earlier, the company announced that it had received a 'Letter of Award' from the state-owned Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP), effectively granting it the green light to proceed with its expansion plan. As the sole procurer of all new electricity generation and related water desalination capacity, OPWP's nod for such investments is a prerequisite under the Sector Law.
This would allow for the private developer -- in this case ACWA Power Barka -- to commit all of its desalinated water output to OPWP under a long-term Water Purchase Agreement, typically in force for 15 years. Significantly, the expansion will effectively boost the water desalination capacity of Barka 1 by around 50 per cent from the present 91,000 m3/day (20 MIGD) to around 135,000 m3/day (30 MIGD). It will also go some way in addressing a projected shortfall in water desalination capacity within the 'Interconnected Zone' over the next seven years (2012-2018).
According to the latest annual Outlook Statement of OPWP, capacity shortfalls are anticipated at specific periods when some of the desalination capacity in the Interconnected Zone -- encompassing the governorates of Muscat, Batinah North and South, Buraimi, Al Dakhiliyah and Al Dhahirah -- fall out of contract upon the expiration of existing water purchase agreements. Barka 1, which is the Sultanate's first privately financed water desalination scheme, is itself slated to fall out of contract in April 2018 unless an extension of the offtake agreement with OPWP is granted before then.
Likewise, some aging water desalination units of the Ghubrah Power and Water Desalination Plant in Muscat Governorate are also scheduled to be decommissioned and phased out, thereby compounding a potential capacity deficit.
MUSCAT -- The Board of Directors of ACWA Power Barka, an Oman-based public joint stock company engaged in power generating and water desalination project, approved the undertaking of a Seawater Reverse Osmosis Expansion Project to produce 10 million imperial gallons a day of desalinated water. In its meeting held last week, the board also reviewed and approved proposal to enter into an amended and restated loan agreement to refinance the existing loan facility and to finance the expansion project, together with all related documents.
The company in a notification informed the Muscat Securities Market that it will convene an ordinary general meeting of the shareholders in this regard. Earlier, the company announced that it had received a 'Letter of Award' from the state-owned Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP), effectively granting it the green light to proceed with its expansion plan. As the sole procurer of all new electricity generation and related water desalination capacity, OPWP's nod for such investments is a prerequisite under the Sector Law.
This would allow for the private developer -- in this case ACWA Power Barka -- to commit all of its desalinated water output to OPWP under a long-term Water Purchase Agreement, typically in force for 15 years. Significantly, the expansion will effectively boost the water desalination capacity of Barka 1 by around 50 per cent from the present 91,000 m3/day (20 MIGD) to around 135,000 m3/day (30 MIGD). It will also go some way in addressing a projected shortfall in water desalination capacity within the 'Interconnected Zone' over the next seven years (2012-2018).
According to the latest annual Outlook Statement of OPWP, capacity shortfalls are anticipated at specific periods when some of the desalination capacity in the Interconnected Zone -- encompassing the governorates of Muscat, Batinah North and South, Buraimi, Al Dakhiliyah and Al Dhahirah -- fall out of contract upon the expiration of existing water purchase agreements. Barka 1, which is the Sultanate's first privately financed water desalination scheme, is itself slated to fall out of contract in April 2018 unless an extension of the offtake agreement with OPWP is granted before then.
Likewise, some aging water desalination units of the Ghubrah Power and Water Desalination Plant in Muscat Governorate are also scheduled to be decommissioned and phased out, thereby compounding a potential capacity deficit.
© Oman Daily Observer 2012
