Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with a consortium of Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power and China’s Harbin Electric to develop a 2,400MW coal project in Dubai.

Dewa selected the team as preferred bidder for the originally tendered 1,200MW Hassyan coal independent power project (IPP) in October 2015 on a levelised cost of energy tariff (LCOE) of 4.501 cents a kilowatt hour (kWh). MEED reported in February this year that Dewa was in discussions with the consortium to expand its remit and develop the first two phases of the Hassyan scheme, doubling the capacity to 2,400MW.

The Acwa/Harbin team has signed a 25-year PPA with Dewa to supply electricity from the plant. The first 2,400MW will comprise of four 600MW units, with the future third phase to consist of two 600MW units utilising ultra-supercritical technology. The full 3,600MW project is planned to be operational by March 2023.

France’s Alstom, part of the US’ GE since 2015, will lead the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) consortium, and will be in charge of the overall engineering of the plant.

Netherlands’ based Louis Dreyfus will build the coal-handling facilities and France’s EDF will supply coal for the plant.

The Hassyan project is a key part of Dubai’s efforts to diversify its power generation sector by 2030. The emirate has set a target for coal and nuclear power to both provide 7 per cent of the total energy mix by 2030, with 25 per cent to be provided by solar energy and the remaining 61 from gas-fired power facilities.