The Saudi Arabia Electricity Company (SEC) is evaluating bids for the contract to build the proposed 2,600MW Shuqaiq power plant.

SEC received commercial submissions from eight groups for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract in May after having received technical submissions earlier in the year.  The plant will run on super critical fuel oil, and will be fitted with sulphur removing technology.

South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) is the low bidder for the power scheme, with the South Korean joint venture of Doosan and GS Engineering submitting the second lowest price. South Korea’s Samsung C&T submitted the third lowest price for the tender. South Korean firms dominated the bidding list, with six of the eight bidders containing South Korean companies.

The other bidders are:

• Daelim (South Korea)
• Daewoo (South Korea)
• Hyundai Engineering & Construction (South Korea)/Al-Toukhi (local)
• Tecnicas Reunidas (Spain)/Alstom (France)/Bemco (local)
• Showa (Japan)/ SE Power (India)

The Shuqaiq plant is similar in size and specification to the 2,640MW Jeddah South plant, for which HHI was awarded the $3.2bn EPC contract to build in October 2012.

The Jeddah South plant will comprise four conventional thermal generating units, each with a minimum capacity of 600MW. The contractor will also be responsible for constructing a 380kV substation to serve the project. Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) will supply the equipment for the plant.

To win the contract, HHI saw off competition from firms that included South Korea’s Daelim, South Korea’s Samsung C&T and a consortium that included Germany’s Siemens, Japan’s Marubeni and Turkey’s Gama.

The Jeddah South plant is scheduled for completion by 2017. When operational, the power plant will be able to produce enough electricity for 2 million people, the equivalent of 5 per cent of the kingdom’s entire power generation capacity.

The Shuqaiq and Jeddah South power plants may be two of the final major power schemes in the kingdom to be oil-fired, with Riyadh keen to preserve its lucrative oil reserves to sell on the international market. In May, SEC took the decision to change the configuration of the planned 2,000MW Rabigh 2 power plant to run on gas rather than fuel.