The joint venture of Saudi Aramco and Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) is still in negotiations with a consortium led by the UK/France’s Engie for the Fadhili independent power project (IPP) in Saudi Arabia.

The project has slipped behind schedule, with the client having initially set a target of appointing a successful bidder in December 2015 and signing electricity and steam offtake agreements in mid-January 2016.

MEED reported in March that UK/France’s Engie was the frontrunner to win the contract, and is the only bidder still in discussions with the client.

The EPC contractor in the Engie consortium is South Korea’s Doosan.

The cogeneration project is scheduled to be developed on a 20-year power, water and steam purchase agreement (PWSPA), with Aramco the offtaker for the steam and water components and SEC the offtaker for the produced electricity.

The proposed IPP will have:

• Total power capacity of 1,200MW-1,600MW
• Total steam capacity of 3,190,000 pounds an hour
• Water production capacity of 768.8 tonnes an hour

The project owner will create a project company to develop the IPP, with the client holding 50-60 per cent of equity ownership and the successful developer holding the remainder.