The Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects (KAPP) is still evaluating proposals for the planned Al-Zour North 2 independent water and power project (IWPP).

The client received technical and commercial bids from the three bidding consortiums on 21 June 2016. MEED reported in October that two of the three bidders had been invited for clarification meetings for the Al-Zour North 2 IWPP. However, according to sources close to the project, the client is still evaluating proposals before it selects a preferred bidder.

The two groups which had clarification meetings with KAPP, the country’s public-private partnership (PPP) body, the Ministry of Electricity & Water (MEW) were:

• 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, was not been invited for further meetings or participation in negotiations.

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.

Kuwait’s first IWPP, Al-Zour North 1, was fully commissioned in late 2016. The second phase of the Al-Zour North IWPP and the proposed Al-Khiran 1 IWPP project have both faced a number of delays in the tendering phase as a result of a restructuring of the country’s PPP body and legislation.

KAPP had been planning to issue request for proposals (RFPs) for the Al-Khiran IWPP before the end of 2016. However, as of 15 January, prequalified developers were still waiting for the client to begin the procurement process.

The Al-Khiran 1 IWPP will have a generation capacity of 1,500MW, the same as Al-Zour North 1 and Al-Zour North 2, but will have a larger desalination component of 125 million imperial gallons a day (MIGD).

The Al-Khiran plant will run on low-sulphur fuel oil (LSFO), unlike the Al-Zour North 1 and 2 projects, which will run on gas. The Al-Khiran 1 IWPP will have the capability to run on the back-up fuels of natural gas, crude oil and gas oil.

The seven groups prequalified to participate in the Al-Khiran tender are:

• Abengoa (Spain)
• Acwa Power (Saudi Arabia)
• Korea Electric Power Company (South Korea)
• Marubeni (Japan)
• Mitsubishi (Japan)
• Mitsui (Japan)
• Sumitomo (Japan) / Osaka Gas Company (Japan) / National Industries Holding Consortium (local)

Kuwait is also planning to begin moving ahead with the third phase of the Al-Zour North IWPP site in 2017.

Speaking at MEED’s Kuwait Projects conference in Kuwait City on 28 November 2016, Motlaq al-Sanei, general head of projects for KAPP, said that the organisation “call for advisory services for Al-Zour North 3 in 2017, hopefully in the first half [of the year]”.

The Al-Zour North 3 IWPP has initially been planned to have a power generation capacity of 1,800MW and a water desalination capacity of 75 million imperial gallons a day (MIGD). It will be the country’s fourth IWPP.