Seven of the 10 shortlisted developers for the Shuweihat independent water and power project (IWPP) have notified the Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (ADWEA) of their intention to bid for the grassroots co-generation plant. Proposals are due to be submitted by 15 January. ADWEA is aiming to shortlist three by 28 February (MEED 11:8:00).

The seven to have responded positively to the ADWEA invitation are Swiss-based ABB Energy Ventures, the UK office of the US' CMS Energy Corporation, a Japanese consortium of Mitsui & Company and Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), Belgium's Tractebel, a UK/Spanish group of National Power and Union Fenosa Acex, the UK office of the US' PSEG Global Power with Marubeni Corporation of Japan, and the US' AES Corporation.

Shuweihat, the third, and to date largest, IWPP in the ADWEA programme, calls for the construction in the first phase of a 1,500-MW, 100 million-gallon-a-day (g/d) co-generation plant with associated infrastructure at a site close to Jebel Dhanna in western Abu Dhabi.

The selected bidder will take a minority stake in a new project company, charged with implementing the work on a build-own-operate (BOO) basis.

ADWEA is committed to carrying out site preparation work for Shuweihat itself and is evaluating bids from five local and international bidders. The 24-month contract is due to be awarded by the end of September. It includes dredging, earthworks and rockworks (MEED 1:9:00).

ADWEA is planning two further phases of the Shuweihat complex, which will take total capacity up to 5,000 MW and 300 million g/d.

Commissioning of Shuweihat-2 is scheduled by the summer of 2006 while the third IWPP is due to be completed in mid-2009.

On the estimated $1,500 million Taweelah A1 IWPP, for which the French/Belgian group of TotalFinaElf and Tractebel was selected in late July as the foreign developer, ADWEA has set a 16 December deadline for financial close. The project will be part-financed by a $1,000 million loan, which is being lead arranged by BNP Paribas and Citibank (MEED 11:8:00).

ADWEA is being advised on Taweelah A-1 by Credit Suisse First Boston (financial adviser), White & Case (international legal adviser), Simmons & Simmons (local legal adviser) and Germany's Fichtner (technical adviser).