Kuwait’s Electricity & Water Ministry has received four bids to expand an existing power plant at Al-Zour South.

The following companies submitted bids:

• Alstom (France)/Alghanim International Trading & Contracting Company (local)
• Hyundai Heavy Industries (South Korea)/General Trading Company for Project Development (local)
• Hyundai Engineering & Consulting (South Korea)/United Gulf Construction Company (local)
• Hanwha (South Korea)/Procedure Consultants Office (local)

The winning bidder will convert phase two of the existing simple cycle gas-fired project into a combined cycle plant on a design, build and operate basis.

The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract will cover the addition of a 400MW steam turbine to the existing 800MW plant at the site. The ministry unveiled plans to convert the existing project earlier this year.

France’s Alstom won the €150m ($205m) contract to supply five gas turbines to the project in July 2007. The local Alghanim was the contractor on the 800MW Al-Zour South scheme. This project formed part of the ministry’s emergency power programme for 2008.

The Al-Zour South project has become a priority for the ministry since its larger EPC power project at Al-Zour North was taken over by the Partnerships Technical Bureau (PTB) and converted into an independent power project (IPP).

The Al-Zour South project is currently hampered by the absence of sufficient power transmission infrastructure at the site. The ministry will have to build a 400kV substation before it can handle the additional power capacity as a result of the expansion.