Kuwait has invited two of the three bidders for clarification meetings for the Al-Zour North 2 independent water and power project (IWPP).

According to sources close to the scheme, the Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects (KAPP), the country’s public-private partnership (PPP) body, and the Ministry of Electricity & Water (MEW), have held clarification meetings with the two Japanese-led consortiums:

• Marubeni Corporation (Japan) / Fouad al-Ghanim & Sons (local)
• Sumitomo Corporation (Japan) / Osaka Gas Company (Japan) / National Industries Holding Group (local)

According to sources, the third bidder, the consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power and Japan’s Mitsui, has not been invited for further meetings or participation in negotiations.

The client received technical and commercial bids from the three bidders on 21 June. Under Kuwait’s IWPP model, commercial tariff prices will not be opened until after the technical evaluation, which, according to sources close to the scheme, has still not been completed.

The Al-Zour North 2 IWPP will have a power generation capacity of 1,500MW and a desalination component of at least 102 million imperial gallons a day (MIGD).

As with the first Al-Zour North IWPP, the phase 2 scheme will run on natural gas as the main feedstock and gas oil, which will be provided by the MEW.