Enelpower was preparing to act as a co-developer and the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor to the consortium headed by Belgium's Tractebel. Its decision to withdraw is understood to be related to a change in corporate strategy following the appointment of a new senior management team in July. Tractebel is now in the process of selecting a new partner.

Two other consortia are preparing to submit proposals for the IWPP. They are the UK's International Powerwith Japan's Mitsui & Companyand Tokyo Electric Power Company; and France's TotalFinaElf.

Developers are bidding the project on the basis of taking a 40 per cent stake in a new project company, which will purchase 70 million gallons a day (g/d) of recently installed desalination capacity. The successful bidder will also be responsible for installing 1,500 MW of new generating capacity and up to 25 million g/d of new desalination capacity.

Umm al-Nar is Abu Dhabi's fourth IWPP. For the fifth, planned at Mirfa, ADWEA is expected to appoint an advisory team in October (MEED 12:7:02).