Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) will soon shortlist bidders for a contract to build a 1,500MW independent power project (IPP) at Hassyan.

Speaking at MEED’s Arabian Power & Water Summit, Duncan Allison, HSBC’s head of power and renewables, said that the decision will be announced within the next two-three weeks.

Developers submitted bids in December 2011. The bidding groups submitted similar offers:

• Marubeni (Japan)/Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (UAE)/SK E&S Company (South Korea): AED0.19057 ($0.052) a kWh
• Siemens Power Ventures (Germany)/Qatar Electricity & Water Company: AED0.19134 a kWh
• Acwa Power (Riyadh)/Korea Electric Power Corporation/Samsung C&T (South Korea): AED0.2027 a kWh
• International Power (UK)/Mitsui (Japan)/GS Engineering & Construction (South Korea): AED0.2048 a kWh

The UK’s HSBC, which is also advising Dewa on the project, and the local Emirates NBD, have agreed to provide $200m to any bidder on the project. Saudi Arabia’s Samba has offered all four bidders an additional $100m of commercial debt and also has offered several of the bidders funding for export credit agency (ECA) guaranteed loans.

ECAs, including Japan Bank for International Cooperation is backing the two consortiums with a Japanese company involved in the bid, and is expected to provide about $500m of direct loans for the project. The tenor of the debt will be more than 20 years.