Emirates Sembcorp Water & Power Company has prequalified companies to bid to design, build and operate a desalination facility to add to the existing Fujairah F1 independent water and power project (IWPP).

Emirates Sembcorp, which comprises Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (Adwea) and Singapore’s Sembcorp, has prequalified a total of eight companies and groups for the project.

According to Abdelhadi Abdulla Alhammadi, senior commercial and technical manager at Emirates Sembcorp, a request for proposals will be issued to prospective bidders by the end of May.

The winning bidder will build the 30-35 million imperial gallons a day reverse osmosis seawater desalination project and operate it for seven years post-construction.

The project will stand next to the existing Fujairah F1 IWPP, which reached financial close in June 2004 and was completed in March 2009. The facility currently has a capacity of 785MW of power and 100 million gallons a day of water.

Construction of another IWPP also located in the emirate, Fujairah F2, has recently been completed. The plant was inaugurated on 9 May.