Dubal Holding, an entity of Dubai Aluminium (Dubal), is to compete in the tender for the coal-fired Hassyan independent power project (IPP) in the emirate.

The Hassyan IPP is Dubal Holding’s first foray into the private power developer market. Dubal Holding has joined up with China’s Meiya Power for the Hassyan tender, and is one of the eight groups prequalified to participate in the tender. The prequalification of the group for the IPP tender has surprised many in the power development market, with little known about the entity.

The Hassyan IPP will have a capacity of 1,200MW, with the client, Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa), having set a commissioning date of March 2020 for the first 600MW unit in the coal plant and the second 600MW set to come on stream 12 months later.

Dewa recently extended the deadline for the prequalified consortiums to submit bids to 26 January 2015, a two-month extension on the initial 26 November deadline.

The prequalified consortiums for the IPP are:

• China Huadian Corporation Power Operation Company (CHD) (China)
• Dubal Holding (local) and Meiya Power (China)
• EDF (France)
• GDF Suez Energy International
• Korea Electric Power Company (Kepco) and Acwa Power International (Saudi Arabia)
• Marubeni Corporation (Japan)
• Mitsubishi Corporation (Japan)
• Tenaga Nasional (Malaysia)

In February, Dewa appointed a consortium led by the UK’s EY as adviser for the project.

While Dubai’s installed capacity of 9,656MW was easily able to cope with the 6,500MW peak power demand recorded in the emirate in 2013, Dewa is pressing ahead with plans to boost capacity as consumption is expected to grow by between 4.5 per cent and 5 per cent a year up to the opening of the World Expo event in 2020.

In addition to the Hassyan scheme, Dewa is also pressing ahead with plans to implement the 100MW second phase of its Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum Solar Park as an IPP. The utility has prequalified 24 firms for the tender and recently set a new bid submission date of 20 November, a month’s extension on the original date.

The Netherlands’ KPMG has been appointed as financial adviser and the UK’s Norton Rose Fulbright has been chosen as legal adviser for the planned solar project, which will use photovoltaic (PV) technology. The scheme is scheduled to be fully operational in 2017.