Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has set a commercial bid submission date for its planned 550MW Duba 1 integrated solar combined-cycle (ISCC) plant.

Contractors have been invited to submit commercial proposals for the ISCC project by 2 April. In November, MEED reported that SEC had received technical bids for the contract to build the Duba 1 plant on 16 November.

The Duba 1 ISCC is planned to run on a mix of natural gas and solar energy, and will have a total development cost of $600m. The Duba plant will have a guaranteed total output of 485-550MW, which will include 40MW to 50MW output from the solar system. The planned commissioning date of the plant is 2017.

In January, SEC awarded the US’ GE the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) contract for the Duba 1 project. For the Duba project, GE’s order includes two F-class gas turbines, a steam turbine, generators, heat recovery steam generators, condenser, control system and a long-term service agreements.

MEED reported in April 2014 that SEC had dropped plans to develop the Duba 1 scheme as an independent power project (IPP) and was instead preparing to tender the plant as a standard EPC deal. SEC has split the project into two contracts: the EPC contract; and an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) contract.

Duba 1 is the second ISCC that SEC is moving ahead with, with the utility having also invited contractors to submit commercial proposals for the planned ISCC at the Waad al-Shamal industrial development in the north of the kingdom. The Waad al-Shamal power facility will have a combined-cycle gas component of 1,000MW and a 50MW concentrating solar power (CSP) component.