The Oman Power & Water Procurement Company (OPWP) is preparing to invite companies to prequalify for its largest independent power project (IPP) by the third quarter of this year.

Ahmed al-Jahdhami, the CEO of OPWP, has said the utility was planning to issue request for qualification (RFQ) for the plant by the third quarter. The proposed IPP is expected to have a capacity of between 2,500MW and 3,500MW, and will connect to the sultanate’s main grid, the Main Interconnected System (MIS).

The planned IPP is due for full commissioning in 2018.

OPWP is also currently planning another IPP at Salalah. In February last year, OPWP received prequalification entries from eight companies for the contract to develop the Salalah 2 IPP project in Oman. OPWP is still evaluating the prequalification entries for the plant, which is expected to have a capacity of 230MW-400MW and is due to be commissioned in 2016.

The eight companies that submitted entries are:

• Acwa Power (Saudi Arabia)
• EDF International (France)
• GDF Suez Energy International ( France)
• Korea Electric (South Korea)
• Mitsui (Japan)
• Marubeni Corporation (Japan)
• Mapna Group (Iran)
• Sojitz Corporation (Japan)

In July 2012, OPWP appointed the UK’s PwC financial adviser for the project, the UK’s DLA Piper as legal adviser and Germany’s Fichtner as technical adviser. The project was originally planned as an independent water and power project IWPP.

The Salalah 2 IPP will be developed adjacent to the existing power station of Dhofar Power Company (DPC), which is majority owned by the local Electricity Holding Company.

According to data from OPWP, peak power demand in the Salalah-area system is anticipated to rise by 10 per cent annually from 348MW in 2011 to 690MW in 2018.