Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa) is reviewing a series of proposals for deals to boost the production capacity of its three Ras Laffan power and water plants.

Kahramaa invited expressions of interest in the deals from all of the developers working on its power and water projects in February and asked for responses within two weeks. Submissions were received from all of the companies that were approached, says a source close to the project.

The firms were asked to detail suggestions on capacity building for the plants they are working on, either by optimising the existing facilities or building extension projects. Kahramaa will now decide which proposals are practical and follow them up with more detailed feasibility studies.

The company needs to add power and water production capacity in Qatar, particularly in the north of the country. A preliminary future demand study found that while existing and pipeline projects will meet demand for water until 2014 and power until 2016, additional projects must be developed to ensure that demand is met in the years that follow.

While the scope of the expansion projects remains undecided, around 40 million gallons a day (mg/d) of additional water capacity is forecast to be needed by 2014 and 170MW of power by 2016.

The Ras Laffan site already hosts three projects: Ras Laffan A, B and C, which have a combined capacity in excess of 4,500MW of power and 200 mg/d of water.

The following companies have been involved in one or more of the Ras Laffan power and water projects as sponsors:

• ASE Corporation (US)
• Gulf Investment Corp (Kuwait)
• Qatar Electricity and Water Company (Qatar)
• Qatar Petroleum (Qatar)
• Chub (Japan)
• International Power (UK)
• GD-Suez (France)