Contractors are waiting on news of the contract award for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the Duba integrated solar combined-cycle (ISCC) power plant.

MEED reported in July that Spain’s Initec Energia was the low bidder for the overall project, having submitted the lowest bid for the solar component on 9 July. Initec replaced Spain’s Abener, which had submitted the lowest bid of SR2.05bn ($547m) for the combined-cycle package in June, as the overall lowest bidder.

Abener’s combined-cycle bid was 6.8 per cent lower than the SR2.2bn price submitted Initec Energia, the second-lowest bidder. However, when combined with the solar component, Initec has now emerged as the lowest bidder for the overall scheme, according to sources within the kingdom’s power sector.

Other bidders for the project include the local Alfanar Construction, Turkey’s Gama, and the local Al-Toukhi and National Contracting Company (NCC).

The client received technical bids for the EPC deal in November. The commercial bid deadline was extended a number of times to allow contractors more time to work on submissions.

The Duba 1 ISCC is planned to run on a mix of natural gas and solar energy, and will have a total development cost of $600m. The Duba plant will have a guaranteed total output of 485-550MW, which will include 40-50MW output from the solar system. The planned commissioning date of the plant is 2017.

SEC has tendered the project as a combination of EPC and equipment packages.

In January, SEC awarded the US’ GE the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) contract for the Duba 1 project. GE’s order includes two F-class gas turbines, a steam turbine, generators, heat recovery steam generators, condenser, control system and long-term service agreements.