A consortium led by the UK’s EY (formerly Ernst & Young) has been appointed by the Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) as financial advisor for the planned 1,200MW Hassyan clean-coal fired independent power plant (IPP) in Dubai.

The EY consortium submitted the fourth-lowest bid of AED11.57m ($3.2m) for the contract in October last year for the advisory contract. Eight groups had submitted bids for the contract, with the Dutch energy consultant Kema International having submitted the lowest price of AED4.95m, just over half of the price of the AED9.49m bid submitted by Germany’s Envicon Plant Engineering, the second-lowest bidder.

Dewa is yet to make a public announcement regarding the appointment.

The clean-coal project will be carried out in two 600MW phases, with the first phase to be completed by 2020 and the second by 2021. The Hassyan site was also the proposed site for the gas-fired IPP, for which Dewa received bids for in December 2011, but announced it was putting the scheme on hold in April 2012 just as the preferred bidder was due to be announced.

The IPP will form a key part of Dubai’s long-term plans to diversify its energy mix, as set out in the Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy 2030, which aims for clean coal to account for 12 per cent of total power generation. Dewa first commissioned a study to evaluate the use of clean coal to generate electricity in the emirate in May 2011.