Oman Power & Water Procurement Company (OPWP) has received clarifications from bidders for the contract to develop the 3,200MW Sohar 3/Ibri independent power project (IPP) in Oman.

According to sources close to the project, the three bidders submitted clarifications on 1 November for what will be Oman’s largest ever IPP. The three developers had submitted commercial proposals on 30 August, following the submission of technical bids on 14 June.

The groups that submitted clarifications are:

•  GDF Suez (now called Engie; UK/France)
• Marubeni (Japan)
• Mitsui (Japan) / Acwa Power (Saudi Arabia)

The Sohar/Ibri 3 project will be split between two sites in Sohar and Ibri. The plants are being tendered as one developer contract, but a separate special-purpose vehicle (SPV) will be formed for each plant.

The IPP is part of the government’s efforts to meet rising demand for power in the Main Interconnected System (MIS), the sultanate’s main grid, and follows on from the Sur IPP, which added 2,000MW to the MIS grid when it was commissioned at the end of 2014.

According to OPWP, in its latest seven-year statement, which sets out forecasts for 2014-20, peak demand is expected to grow at an average of 10 per cent a year, from 4,455MW in 2013 to 9,133MW in 2020.

The sultanate is also pressing ahead with plans to expand generation capacity in the sultanate’s southern Dhofar governorate.

MEED reported on 25 August that the consortium of Japan’s Mitsui & Company and Acwa Power reached financial close on the Salalah 2 IPP and secured project finance of approximately $450m. The new 445MW plant is estimated to cost $620m.

China’s Sepco 3 will be the consortium’s engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor to build the plant. The facility is scheduled for commissioning in January 2018.