Developers are submitting prequalification entries ahead of the 21 June deadline for Oman's planned 1,200MW coal-fired independent power project (IPP) in Duqm.

The submission date for prequalification entries has been extended from the originally planned 7 June deadline. The client will evaluate prequalification proposals before drawing up a shortlist of groups to receive request for proposals (RFPs).

MEED reported in November that OPWP had appointed an advisory team for the planned coal project. The utility company has appointed the UK’s Ernst & Young (EY) as financial adviser, Finland’s Poyry as technical adviser and the UK’s Gowling WLG as legal adviser.

If the project goes ahead, it will be Oman’s first coal-fired power plant. OPWP had previously considered developing coal-fired power plants in the sultanate.

In 2009, an advisory team of WorleyParsons of Australia and Netherlands-headquartered KPMG was selected for a proposed 1,000MW coal-fired independent water and power project (IWPP) at Duqm. Although coal was ranked the following year by the UK’s Mott MacDonald as the most economic feedstock available, the coal-fired option was dropped on environmental grounds.

The state utility company’s decision to look at coal again may have been influenced by the successful tendering and award of the contract for the GCC’s first coal-fired power plant in Dubai in 2016.

It is being developed under the IPP model, with the developer consortium having signed a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Dubai Electricity & Water authority (Dewa) for a 2,400MW facility.

Fewa, the utility provider for the Northern Emirates in the UAE, is also planning to develop a large coal-fired power plant.