Acwa Power outprices Taqa for Hassyan IWP

23 May 2023
The 120MIGD project comprises two blocks of 60MIGD each

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Saudi utility developer and investor Acwa Power has submitted a levelised water cost of 38.9 $cents a cubic metre ($c/cm) for the base proposal of 120 million imperial gallons a day (MIGD) for the planned Hassyan independent water producer (IWP) project in Dubai.

It offered 36.5 $c/cm for the alternative proposal of 180MIGD.

State utility Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) disclosed on 23 May that the lowest bid was submitted by Acwa Power. It did not disclose the offers made by the second bidder, Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa).

Dewa said it intends to select the preferred bidder for the contract during the second quarter of the year.

The project is Dubai’s first IWP. Dewa initially set 28 March as the deadline for bidders to submit their proposals for the contract, before it moved the final bid deadline to 22 May.

Dewa issued the request for qualifications for the contract in October 2022 and received statements of qualification the following month.

The state utility qualified six international bidders to which it issued the request for proposals in December last year.

The 120MIGD project comprises two blocks of 60MIGD each, located within the Hassyan area approximately 55 kilometres to the southwest of Dubai Creek.

The first block is expected to be commissioned in October 2025 and the full 120MIGD by April 2026. 

In September last year, a team led by UK-headquartered Deloitte won the advisory services contract for the project.

The Hassyan seawater reverse osmosis complex forms part of Dewa’s strategy to increase water desalination capacity in Dubai to 750MIGD in 2030, up from 490MIGD. 

Dewa plans to produce 100 per cent desalinated water from a mix of clean energy and waste heat by 2030, managing director and CEO Saeed Mohammed al-Tayer has said.

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