EXCLUSIVE: UAE makes progress with second coal power project

29 August 2017

Federal Electricity & Water Authority planning to develop 1.8GW coal-fired power plant in Northern Emirates

Progress is being made on the planned 1.8GW coal-fired power plant in the Northern Emirates of the UAE, with advisers due to submit draft documents to the client in the coming days.

According to sources close to the project, the advisory team, led by the UK’s Deloitte as financial adviser, is reparing to submit the draft plan for the proposed scheme to the client, Federal Electricity & Water Authority (Fewa), before the end of the August.

MEED reported in March that Fewa was planning to develop a 1.8GW coal-fired power plant, and had appointed advisers. The advisers selected for the scheme are Deloitte as financial adviser, the local office of Austria’s ILF Consulting Engineers as technical consultant and the UK’s Trowers & Hamlins as legal adviser.

MEED later reported that Fewa had selected a site in Ras al-Khaimah for the facility, which will be developed using an independent power project (IPP) model.

The plant would be the second major coal-fired power plant in the UAE, with the GCC’s first coal power plant under execution in Dubai.

In November 2016, a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power and China’s Harbin Electric 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 2016 that the project company had reached financial close for the $3.4bn scheme. The project will be funded by debt of $2.5bn and equity of $650m, according to sources close to the scheme.

The developer consortium signed the PPA in June 2016 for the facility, which will comprise four 600MW units.

Dewa had selected the team as preferred bidder for the originally tendered 1,200MW Hassyan coal IPP in October 2015 on a levelised cost of energy tariff (LCOE) of 4.501 cents a kilowatt hour (kWh). However, the developer reached an agreement with the Dubai utility to expand its remit and develop the first two phases of the Hassyan scheme, doubling the capacity to 2,400MW.

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