Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has invited expressions of interest to develop an independent power plant (IPP) at a site adjacent to SEC’s existing facility at Qurayyah, on the east coast of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The winning bidder will build, own and operate the steam power plant, which will be fuelled by heavy fuel oil (HFO) and will have a capacity of around 1,800MW.

Qurayyah IPP will be the third project to be developed under SEC’s IPP programme.

The project company, which will be formed by SEC and the successful developer/developer consortium, will sell its entire capacity and output to SEC under a power purchase agreement (PPA). Under the PPA, SEC will also supply HFO and allocate the land for the project.

Interested parties have until 31 May to respond to the invite. A request for qualification (RFQ) will be issued in June.

The US’ Citigroup is financial adviser to the state-owned company in the tender while the law office of Mohannad bin Saud al-Rasheed in association with Baker Botts is legal consultant. Germany’s Fichtner is technical consultant.