Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity & Water has extended the deadline for bids to expand an existing power plant at Al-Zour South.

The 29 August cut-off date for bids has been postponed to 14 September. The winning bidder will convert phase two of the existing simple cycle gas-fired project into a combined cycle plant on a design, build and operate basis.

The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract will cover the addition of a 400MW steam turbine to the existing 800MW plant at the site.The ministry unveiled plans to convert the existing project earlier this year.

France’s Alstom won the €150m ($205m) contract to supply five gas turbines to the project in July 2007. The local Al-Ghanim International Trading & Contracting Company was the contractor on the 800MW Al-Zour South scheme. This project formed part of the ministry’s emergency power programme for 2008.

The Al-Zour South project has become a priority for the Ministry of Electricity & Water since its larger EPC power project at Al Zour North was taken over by the Partnerships Technical Bureau (PTB) and converted into an independent power project (IPP).

However, the Al-Zour South project is hampered by the absence of sufficient power transmission infrastructure at the site. The ministry will have to build a 400kV substation before it can handle the additional power capacity as a result of the expansion.