Bidding Open for 3,000 Megawatts to Match Oman's 9.5% Annual Power Growth

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Peak electrical power demand in Oman is expected to grow 9.5% annually, from 4,293 megawatts (MW) in 2012 to 8,106 MW in 2019, according to state-controlled Oman Power & Water Procurement Company (OPWP).

In the high-consumption scenario, peak demand growth could be as high as 11% in 2019, reaching 9,133 MW. This would exceed expected demand by about 1,000 MW. Marubeni's 2,000 MW, gas-fired Sur power plant, an independent power producer (IPP) project that is under construction, will meet a significant portion of the demand when it begins operations in 2014. More additional power will be needed through 2018-19.

OPWP has announced the start of a procedure to procure its largest IPP. The estimated power generating capacity is between 2,500 and 3,000 MW. OPWP has sole mandate in the sector to oversee the procurement of all new power and related water desalination capacity, and has invited qualified consultancy firms to submit expressions of interest (EoI) for contracts to provide advisory services linked to the implementation of the major power scheme.

The deadline for interested firms to register their interest to participate in bids is June 6, 2013. Bids will be for separate contracts to provide financial and commercial services, technical advisory services and legal advisory services. It is reported that requests for proposals (RfPs) concerning these contracts are expected to be issued by the end of the first week of June.

The 2,500 to 3,000 MW of additional capacity probably will not be constructed as a single unit at a single site, OPWP officials have said. The project probably will consist of two or more plants located at multiple sites and will be implemented by a single developer, which will be awarded a license after the project goes out for bidding on an international competitive tender. This model has been used for the 744-MW Barka 3 and Sohar 2 IPPs, in the belief that the overall performance of smaller units is superior to that of large plants.

OPWP will examine the economic benefits of co-locating water and power plants. The desalination plants would use advanced reverse osmosis technology.

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