The Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) has invited contractors to submit bids for the contract to expand its M Station power plant at Jebel Ali.

Contractors have until 12 August to submit bids for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract, which will involve expanding the existing 2,030MW Station M facility by 600MW.

The contract is one of 1,300MW-worth of power generation projects for which Dewa is planning to sign agreements by the end of 2014.

Dewa is also planning to sign the power purchase agreements (PPAs) for both the 100MW second phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum Solar Park independent power project (IPP) and the proposed 600MW first phase of its 1,200MW Hassyan clean-coal fired IPP by the end of 2014, Dewa told MEED in March.

In February, Dewa appointed a consortium led by UK’s EY (formerly Ernst & Young) as adviser for the planned 1,200MW Hassyan clean-coal fired IPP. The clean-coal project will be carried out in two 600MW phases, with the first phase set to be commissioned in the second quarter of 2020, and the second phase in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to Dewa.

In March, MEED reported that Dewa had appointed the financial and legal advisers for the 100MW second phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum Solar Park IPP. TheNetherland’s KPMG has been appointed as financial adviser and the UK’s London Norton Rose Fulbright has been appointed as legal adviser for the planned solar project, which will utilise photovoltaic (PV) technology. The 100MW solar project is scheduled to be fully operational in 2017.

While the current installed capacity of 9,700MW in Dubai was easily able to cope with the 6,500MW peak demand recorded in 2013, Dewa is pressing ahead with plans to boost the emirate’s capacity as demand for electricity is expected to grow by 4.5-5 per cent a year up to the 2020 opening of the World Expo event in Dubai.