The UK/French Engie is frontrunner to win the contract to develop the Fadhili independent power project (IPP) in Saudi Arabia.

According to sources close to the project, Engie will be selected as the preferred bidder in the next few days. MEED reported in late February that the client, a joint venture of Saudi Aramco and Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), shortlisted two of the four bidders for the Fadhili IPP.

The EPC contractor in the Engie consortium is South Korea’s Doosan.

The cogeneration project is scheduled to be developed on a 20-year power, water and steam purchase agreement (PWSPA), with Aramco the offtaker for the steam and water components and SEC the offtaker for the produced electricity.

The proposed IPP will have:

• Total power capacity of 1,200MW-1,600MW
• Total steam capacity of 3,190,000 pounds an hour
• Water production capacity of 768.8 tonnes an hour

 The project has slipped behind schedule, with the client having initially set a target of appointing a successful bidder in December and signing electricity and steam offtake agreements in mid-January.

Fadhili IPP deadlines

Production: The project owner has set a target of early steam production by 1 April 2018

Commissioning: The planned initial commissioning date is 27 June 2019

Commercial operation: The final commercial operation date is scheduled for 31 January 2020

The project owner will create a project company to develop the IPP, with the client holding 50-60 per cent of equity ownership and the successful developer holding the remainder.