Germany’s Siemens has been awarded a service contract for the Facility D independent water and power project (IWPP) in Qatar.

Siemens' service agreement covers the plant’s six gas turbines, four steam turbines and 10 generators for a 25-year period.

The $3bn Facility D IWPP is being built next to Qatar Economic Zone, about 15 kilometres south of Doha. The plant will have a total power capacity of 2.5GW and a desalination capacity of 136 million imperial gallons a day (MIGD).

The project company developing the plant is Umm al-Houl, a consortium consisting of Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation and Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco). Government stakeholders in the project company are Qatar Electricity & Water Company (QEWC), Qatar Petroleum (QP) and Qatar Foundation (QF).

First power from the scheme is expected in 2017, with the whole facility scheduled to come online in 2018. The IWPP will be located in the Qatar Economic Zone (QEZ) near Mesaieed.

South Korea's Samsung C&T was awarded the $1.8bn deal to build the Facility D IWPP in July. The contract covers engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of a 2.5GW combined-cycle power plant.

Japan’s Hitachi Zosen will carry out the desalination EPC works, with Spain's Acciona Agua as a subcontractor.

In October 2015, Siemens was awarded a contract to provide turbines and generators for Facility D.