Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) announced on Thursday that it has received with world's lowest water levelised tariff for its first Independent Water Producer (IWP) model project.

The utility said in a statement that it received a low tariff of $0.306 per cubic metre for its 120 Million Gallons Per Day (MIGD) Hassyan Sea Water Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) Plant.

The statement noted that DEWA has started the evaluation of the bids received and aims to select the preferred bidder in the second quarter, adding that the project would be commissioned in August 2023.

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA said the utility currently desalinates water through the joint production of electricity and water, using efficient Multi-Stage Flash (MSF) distillation technology, which depends on waste heat created by the production of electricity for water desalination.

"We are building water production plants based on Reverse Osmosis (RO) which requires less energy than MSF distillation plants, making it a more sustainable choice for water desalination," he said.

Al Tayer said the project is part of DEWA's strategy to increase the water desalination capacity in Dubai to 750 MIGD, from 470 MIGD at present.

DEWA issued an Expression of Interest (EOI) on 10 June 2019 followed by Request for Qualification (RFQ) to 34 interested bidders.

Following a rigorous qualification process, DEWA prequalified 9 international bidders to whom the Request for Proposal (RFP) was issued on 13 October 2019.

DEWA has adopted the IWP procurement model for the Hassyan desalination plant following the success of the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park projects.

(Writing by Madhura Deulgaonkar; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

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