Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity & Water (MEW) has invited contractors to submit bids for the contract to expand the generation capacity of the Subiya power and desalination plant.

The project will expand the existing open-cycle capacity at the Subiya site by 500MW.

Contractors have until 2 August to submit prices for the scheme.

In addition to the expansion, the MEW has also invited companies to submit bids for the deal to convert an existing open-cycle unit at the Subiya power plant to combined-cycle.

MEED reported in May that the Subiya facility suffered from a power failure, which led to a disruption in electricity supply. This is the second time this year that a problem at the plant has reportedly caused interruptions, with a failure in February also resulting in a supply issue.

The projects are part of plans to boost generating capacity in Kuwait, with the country currently experiencing a rapid growth in demand for electricity. MEW estimates that an additional 10,500MW of generation capacity will be required by 2022 to meet the forecast peak demand growth.