Oman Power & Water Procurement (OPWP) has invited consultants to submit proposals for the legal advisory role on its planned coal-fired independent power project (IPP).

Consultants have been invited to submit proposals by 24 July for the advisory role.

MEED reported in May that OPWP had received proposals from consultant’s for the sultanate’s first coal-fired power plant.

OPWP received proposals for financial and commercial advisory roles on a planned coal-fired power plant on 9 May. The proposed project will be developed under an independent power project (IPP) model.

OPWP has 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 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.

MEED reported in November 2016 that a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power and China’s Harbin Electric had started construction work on the 2,400MW Hassyan coal-fired power plant in Dubai.

The GCC’s first coal-fired power plant 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).

MEED reported in September that the project company had reached financial close for the $3.4bn scheme. The coal project will be funded by debt of $2.5bn and equity of $650m, according to sources close to the scheme.

The majority of the debt, about 78 per cent, is being raised from Chinese banks. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China Construction Bank, Agriculture Bank of China and Bank of China are all participating in the transaction.

Fewa, the utility provider for the Northern Emirates in the UAE is also planning to develop a large coal-fired power plant. MEED reported in March that Fewa had appointed legal, technical and financial advisers for the proposed 1.8GW scheme.