Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has invited 15 prequalified companies to submit bids for the contract to expand the 2,640MW Jeddah South power plant, which is currently under commissioning in the Western Province of the kingdom.

The project will involve the installation of two new units, which will increase the capacity of the oil-fired power plant by about 1,300MW. Contractors have until 25 September to submit bids for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) deal.

SEC has prequalified the contractors in three categories, with 10 of the 15 prequalified in the A category. Firms prequalified in the A category are free to bid without conditions.

The prequalifiers in the A category are:

• Bechtel (US)
• Black & Veatch (US)
• Doosan (South Korea)
• GE (US)
• Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI; South Korea)
• Hyundai Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Mitsubishi Corporation (Japan)
• Shaw (US)
• Siemens (Germany)
• SNC Lavalin (Canada)

 Three contractors have been prequalified in the B category:

• Daelim (South Korea)
• Daewoo (South Korea)
• Samsung C&T (South Korea)

Contractors prequalified in the B category have been invited to bid on the condition that they bid in partnership with an independent engineer.

Spain’s Tecnicas Reunidas and the local National Contracting Company have been prequalified in category C. The two contractors are only eligibile to bid as part of consortiums with contractors in category A or B.

MEED recently reported that the first 660MW of power from the Jeddah South plant had been commissioned and was connected to the national grid.

HHI was awarded a $3.2bn deal to build the Jeddah South plant in October 2012. Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) is supplying the equipment.

The plant will comprise four conventional thermal generating units, each with a minimum capacity of 600MW. The contractor will also be responsible for constructing a 380kV substation to serve the scheme.