Jordan-based developer Mass Global has extended the bid deadline to 16 April for the contract to expand its existing independent power project in Irbil, located in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

Bids were originally to be submitted in February but this was extended. “Upon requests from the bidders, we extended the deadline to mid-March,” says a source at Mass Global.

The facility is located about 20 kilometres south of the city of Irbil and currently has a capacity of 875MW. The project currently comprises a series of simple-cycle gas turbines.

The extension project will take the overall capacity of the plant to 1,312MW through the addition of several combined-cycle gas turbines (CCGT).

The following companies have been asked to submit final bids to build the project, including technical and commercial details:

• Alstom (France)
• Siemens (Germany)
• GE (US)
• Power Machines (Russia)
• Wood Group (UK/US)

The winning bidder will construct eight new generation units. Each bidder has their own engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor. Alstom is working with Switzerland’s ABB, Power Machines would use a contractor from Russia and GE has joined with Kuwait’s Alghanim.

Mass Global’s Irbil project originally consisted of four 125MW Frame 9E simple-cycle gas turbines supplied by the US’ GE. The agreement to build the project was signed in mid-2006 and the facility was constructed on a build-own-operate basis. Three additional units were subsequently added to the project to take the overall capacity to 875MW.

The Irbil power plant is designed to work on two types of fuel – natural gas as the primary source and diesel as the secondary. The new CCGT component will utilise steam produced by the existing power plant.