EXCLUSIVE: Saudi Arabia invites prequalification for major IWPP

08 May 2018
Client is planning to issue tender documents for Jubail 3 IWPP in August

Saudi Arabia’s Water & Electricity Company (WEC) has invited developers to submit prequalification documents for the planned Jubail 3 independent water and power project (IWPP).

MEED recently reported that the client had invited firms to submit expressions of interest (EOI) by 1 May, and has now invited developers to submit prequalification documents by 28 June.

The client is expecting to issue the request for proposals (RFP) in August, with an initial bid deadline in February 2019.

The Jubail 3 plant will have a power generation capacity of 3,000MW and a desalination capacity of 1.17 billion cubic metres a day (cm/d).

The desalination component of the plant will be a hybrid system, with 60 per cent of the capacity to be produced through reverse osmosis (RO) membrane technology, with the remaining 40 per cent to be produced through a thermal desalination process.

The project will be developed under a 25-year concession agreement, with the selected developer to sign a power and water purchase agreement (PWPA) with WEC, which will be the offtaker for all of the produced power and desalinated water. WEC’s obligations under the PWPA will be supported by a credit guarantee from the Saudi government.

The plant will be developed 18km south of the Jubail Industrial City on the Arabian Gulf coast.

The lead and financial adviser for the IWP is the local Banque Saudi Fransi. The client has appointed Germany’s Fichtner Engineering and Consulting as the technical adviser, the UK’s DLA Piper as legal adviser and the UK’s Alderbrook as co-financial adviser.

Riyadh is increasing the role of private investment in the power and desalination sectors as part of the kingdom’s Vision 2030. It is also preparing to privatise existing assets.

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