Contractors are awaiting news on Dubai’s planned waste-to-energy (WTE) project, after submitting prequalification entries in August last year.

Following the submission of prequalification entries, contractors have not heard any further information from the project owner, the Dubai Municipality (DM). According to sources close to the scheme, the municipality is considering switching the procurement of the project to a public-private partnership (PPP) rather than the originally planned engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) model.

MEED reported in December 2015 that Germany’s Fichtner had been appointed as technical adviser for the WTE scheme.

The firm will provide technical assistance for the project, which will be located at the municipality’s waste landfill site in Warsan. The first phase of the scheme is planned to have a minimum capacity of 2,000 tonnes a day (t/d).

The project is in line with Dubai’s Strategic Plan 2021 and the Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy 2030, in both of which there is a commitment to protect the environment and improve sustainability in the energy sectors. The Dubai Municipality estimates that the quantity of municipal solid wastes generated in the emirate in 2014 was 7,000 t/d.

Dubai is not the only emirate looking to implement a large WTE project.

Sharjah’s Beeah is planning to develop a WTE facility that will recycle 400,000 tonnes a year of non-recyclable waste and generate 85MW of renewable energy. In 2014, Beeah selected the UK’s Chinook Sciences to develop the scheme.