Oman Power & Water Procurement Company (OPWP) is inviting bids until 29 March for a consultancy services contract on an independent power project (IPP) in Musandam.

The work involves providing project management and consultancy services during the construction, commissioning and testing of the 120MW dual-fired plant.

The IPP is being developed by Musandam Power Company, a new entity established by a consortium led by Oman Oil Company (OOC) and including South Korea’s LG International to develop the power plant. The project company will develop the facility under the supervision of OPWP.

The developers are still in the process of securing financing for the plant.

The Musandam facility will operate under a power purchase agreement (PPA) with OPWP for supply of electricity to Rural Area Electricity Company (Raeco), which owns and operates Musandam’s generation and distribution system.

The IPP will be primarily fuelled by natural gas, with a back-up facility for using fuel oil. The plant’s technology will be based on reciprocating engines or gas turbines, in open- or combined-cycle configuration.

The power plant is being built in parallel with the Musandam gas plant, which will have the capacity to treat 45 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas and 20,000 barrels a day (b/d) of oil. The $600m gas processing facility is currently being built by South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction.

The IPP is part of a strategy to move Musandam away from diesel-fired power generation. The governorate currently relies on small diesel-fired units, which may be retained for back-up security once the gas-fired power plant is operational.