The original 8 January bid deadline for the Shouaiba IWPP has been extended by eight weeks by the client, Water & Electricity Company (WEC), the joint venture formed by Saudi Electricity Company (SEC)and the Saline Water Conversion Corporation. Three consortia are expected to bid on the Shouaiba scheme, which will have capacity to produce 650-900 MW of power and 194 million gallons a day (g/d) of water.

A revised bid closing of 28 February has been set by The Power & Water Utilities Company for Jubail & Yanbu (Marafiq) for its planned 2,400- MW, 79 million-g/d IWPP. The release of request for proposal (RFP) documents by Saudi Aramco was also imminent in mid-December for its planned independent water, steam and power project (IWSPP) at Rabigh (MEED 10:12:04; 3:12:04).