Oman’s Rural Areas Electricity Company has invited contractors to bid for the contract to rehabilitate and upgrade the Saih al-Khairat power station in the Dhofar governorate.

Contractors have until 2 December to submit bids for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract.

The Dhofar governorate is part of the sultanate’s Salalah grid system, which covers the southern areas of Oman. There are about 70,000 electricity customers in the area. The system comprises an integrated generation, transmission and distribution system, which is owned and operated by the Dhofar Power Company.

Peak demand in Salalah in 2012 reached 389MW, a 10 per cent growth on the 348MW peak in 2011. Population growth, infrastructure development, industrial and tourism growth are expected to increase the peak demand growth for electricity in the Salalah system to reach 848Mw in 2019, an average growth rate of 12 per cent a year. The majority of the demand, about 9 per cent, will come from non-industrial sectors.

Capacity in the Salalah system was boosted in May 2012 when the the Salalah independent water and power project (IWPP) began commercial operation. The gas-fired power plant has a total generation capacity of 490MW, while its seawater desalination component has a total water production capacity of 15 million gallons a day (g/d). The Singaporean developer will provide power to the Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) for 15 years.