Qatar’s General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa) has received bids for its next independent water and power project (IWPP), known as Facility D.  

Four out of six prequalified consortiums submitted proposals on 29 May for the IWPP. Information on pricing has yet to be made available. The bidding list was dominated by Japanese firms, with Japanese developers leading three of the four groups that submitted prices.

 The bidders are:

• GDF Suez Energy International (UK/France)
• Marubeni Corporation (Japan)
• Mitsubishi Corporation (Japan)
• Sumitomo (Japan)

The proposed plant will have a power generation capacity of 2,400MW and a desalination capacity of 130 million gallons a day (g/d).

The IWPP is estimated to require $3bn-worth of investment, with a large proportion of this to be project financed by banks. It is thought that government-backed export credit agencies (ECAs) such as Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) will have to play a role in raising the necessary financing.

Despite having recorded some of the highest demand growth for power and desalination in the Gulf in recent years, Qatar has been able to build up one of the highest reserve margins in the region. However, with consumption expected to continue to rise steeply as the state pushes ahead with its construction programme for hosting the 2022 Fifa World Cup, Kahramaa is aware that new capacity is vital.

“We expect to see demand continuing to increase by 10 per cent annually for the next five years,” Ahmed al-Nasser, technical director at Kahramaa, told MEED in late 2013. “This is why we are planning to increase capacity by 2,000MW in this time, as well as increase desalination capacity.”

Kahramaa’s last major desalination project was the $500m Ras Abu Fontas A2 plant, which is being developed by the local Qatar Electricity & Water Company (QEWC). QEWC completed financing for the project in January 2013.