Egypt Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) has received and opened proposals for the planned 6.6GW Hamrawein clean-coal power plant, which will be developed under an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC)-plus finance (EPC+F) model.

EEHC received technical and commercial proposals from three consortiums for the proposed project. Commercial proposals contained both an EPC offer and a levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) tariff.

A consortium containing China’s Shanghai Electric, China’s Dong Fang and the local Hassan Allam Construction submitted the lowest EPC price of $4.4bn, with the US’ GE submitting an offer of $5.8bn and a consortium of Japan’s Mitsubishi Hitachi Power System (MHPS) and the local Orascom Construction and El-Sewedy submitting an EPC proposal of $7bn.

However, for the LCOE, the MHPS-led consortium submitted the lowest LCOE of $cents4.5 per kWh ($c/kWh). The Shanghai Electric-led consortium submitted a LCOE offering of 5.4$c/kWh, with GE submitting a tariff of 7$c/kWh.

According to sources close to the project, EEHC will evaluate the LCOE with international engineering firm Tractebel, the appointed owner’s consultant, and is hoping to award the contract for the project by the second week of March.

The project is one of a handful of major coal projects that Egypt is seeking to develop in the coming years to meet the growing demand for electricity while diversifying fuel sources used for power generation.

MEED recently reported that EEHC was progressing with negotiations with the UAE’s Al-Nowais Investments, through its subsidiary AMEA Power, for a planned coal-fired independent power project (IPP) at Ayoun Moussa.

The project, which is planned to have a first phase capacity of 2,640MW, has been under negotiation since 2015, when Al-Nowais signed initial agreements for the projects.