Bahrain’s Electricity & Water Authority (EWA) is assessing whether the planned $1.5bn second phase of its Al-Dur power plant will be developed as an independent power project (IPP) or tendered as a standard engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract.

Speaking at MEED’s Bahain Energy Forum in Manama on 22 April, Adnan Mohammed Fakhro, deputy chief executive for distribution & customer services, EWA, said that discussions were on-going on whether the EWA would appoint an EPC contractor to build the plant or develop it as an IPP with the private sector. Once a decision on financing for the plant has been reached, companies will be invited to express interest in the project.

The second phase of the Al-Dur scheme will have a power generating capacity of 1,200MW - 1,500MW and is planned to be a combined-cycle gas turbine plant. Fakhro said that the plant is planned to be commissioned between 2017 and 2019.

Fakhro earlier told delegates at the MEED event that new power generation capacity was required by 2017 to avoid a shortfall. In 2013, peak demand for electricity reached 2,917MW, with current capacity almost 4,000MW. In 2016, peak demand is forecast to reach 3,736MW and is expected to exceed 4,000MW in 2017.