08 March 2011
MUSCAT -- The race for a licence to build a huge Independent Power Project (IPP) at Sur, on the Sultanate's Sharqiyah coast, has whittled down to five bidders.
AES Oasis Energy, one of six energy firms prequalified to bid for the licence, opted out of the contest, leaving fellow contenders Marubeni Corporation (Japan), Siemens LLC, Sembcorp Utilities, Enka (Turkey) and Mitsui & Co in the fray.
Envelopes containing the financial offers and final technical submissions from the latter five bidders were opened at the Tender Board yesterday, as the competition for the prestigious licence now enters its final phase.
The successful bidder will secure a licence to build the country's largest greenfield power project with an installed generation capacity ranging from 1,500 to 2,000 megawatts (MW). Project costs are estimated to range from $1.6 billion to $1.8 billion on a 1,500MW project, which could escalate to nearly $2 billion at the higher capacity limit.
Japanese conglomerate Mitsui & Co has joined hands with Oman Oil Company and Taqa in bidding for the IPP mandate. Siemens LLC heads a consortium that includes Saudi Oger and Korean East-West Power. Japanese corporation Marubeni has teamed up with Qatar Electricity and Water, Chubu Electric and Multitech in its bid.
The state-owned electricity off-taker, Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP), is overseeing the implementation of the IPP at Sur in line with its mandate to procure all new electricity and related water capacity.
OPWP is eyeing a March 30 deadline to finalise a shortlist of bidders, who will then be called for final negotiations leading to the selection of a preferred bidder by April 16. The execution of project documents is slated for April 30, paving the way for construction work on the IPP to begin in earnest.
Underscoring efforts to fast-track the implementation of the project, OPWP has set a Q1 2013 time frame for part of the IPP's output, equivalent to roughly 400 MW of generation capacity, to be brought into operation ahead of summer peak demand that year. The IPP's full capacity of 1,500-2,000MW is slated for full commissioning ahead of peak summer demand in 2014.
The Sur IPP, as well as a pair of recently awarded IPPs (Barka 3 and Sohar 2) under development in the Batinah region, will go a long way in meeting the galloping demand for electricity within the Main Interconnected System (MIS). An estimated half a million customers are served by the MIS, an area encompassing the Governorates of Muscat and Buraimi, and most of the South Batinah, Dakhiliyah, Sharqiyah, North Batinah and Dhahirah regions.
According to OPWP, electricity demand in the MIS is projected to rise from 3,424 MW in 2009 to 6,043 MW by 2016, representing an average increase of around 8.5 per cent or 374 MW per year.
MUSCAT -- The race for a licence to build a huge Independent Power Project (IPP) at Sur, on the Sultanate's Sharqiyah coast, has whittled down to five bidders.
AES Oasis Energy, one of six energy firms prequalified to bid for the licence, opted out of the contest, leaving fellow contenders Marubeni Corporation (Japan), Siemens LLC, Sembcorp Utilities, Enka (Turkey) and Mitsui & Co in the fray.
Envelopes containing the financial offers and final technical submissions from the latter five bidders were opened at the Tender Board yesterday, as the competition for the prestigious licence now enters its final phase.
The successful bidder will secure a licence to build the country's largest greenfield power project with an installed generation capacity ranging from 1,500 to 2,000 megawatts (MW). Project costs are estimated to range from $1.6 billion to $1.8 billion on a 1,500MW project, which could escalate to nearly $2 billion at the higher capacity limit.
Japanese conglomerate Mitsui & Co has joined hands with Oman Oil Company and Taqa in bidding for the IPP mandate. Siemens LLC heads a consortium that includes Saudi Oger and Korean East-West Power. Japanese corporation Marubeni has teamed up with Qatar Electricity and Water, Chubu Electric and Multitech in its bid.
The state-owned electricity off-taker, Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP), is overseeing the implementation of the IPP at Sur in line with its mandate to procure all new electricity and related water capacity.
OPWP is eyeing a March 30 deadline to finalise a shortlist of bidders, who will then be called for final negotiations leading to the selection of a preferred bidder by April 16. The execution of project documents is slated for April 30, paving the way for construction work on the IPP to begin in earnest.
Underscoring efforts to fast-track the implementation of the project, OPWP has set a Q1 2013 time frame for part of the IPP's output, equivalent to roughly 400 MW of generation capacity, to be brought into operation ahead of summer peak demand that year. The IPP's full capacity of 1,500-2,000MW is slated for full commissioning ahead of peak summer demand in 2014.
The Sur IPP, as well as a pair of recently awarded IPPs (Barka 3 and Sohar 2) under development in the Batinah region, will go a long way in meeting the galloping demand for electricity within the Main Interconnected System (MIS). An estimated half a million customers are served by the MIS, an area encompassing the Governorates of Muscat and Buraimi, and most of the South Batinah, Dakhiliyah, Sharqiyah, North Batinah and Dhahirah regions.
According to OPWP, electricity demand in the MIS is projected to rise from 3,424 MW in 2009 to 6,043 MW by 2016, representing an average increase of around 8.5 per cent or 374 MW per year.
© Oman Daily Observer 2011
