Oman Power & Water Procurement Company (OPWP) is preparing to launch a tender for its next independent power project (IPP) at Salalah.

OPWP plans to issue a request for qualification by late September and a request for proposals by January 2013.

The project will have a capacity of 230MW-400MW. According to a source close to the project, OPWP is considering packaging the new project with an existing 230MW power plant. The project company would take over the existing asset and build the new power plant at the same site.

In July, OPWP selected the UK’s PricewaterhouseCoopers as financial adviser, the UK’s DLA Piper as legal adviser and Germany’s Fichtner as technical adviser.

The project will join two other independent projects in the Salalah system, which is separate from the main interconnected system (MIS) of Oman.

In the Salalah system, peak demand is forecast to grow at a rate of 10 per cent a year, from 348MW in 2011 to 689MW in 2018. Under a low-case scenario, demand would be expected to rise by 7 per cent a year. Should more rapid industrialisation take place, demand could grow by as much as 17 per cent a year.