MEED magazine stated that the Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy is expected to issue, through the Authority for Partnership Projects between the public and private sectors, a request for proposals for Kuwait’s upcoming independent water and energy projects in early 2023.
In September, at least six utility developers submitted a Statement of Qualifications to the Partnership Authority to obtain contracts to develop the Az-Zour North 2 and 3 and Al-Khairan 1 projects.
The companies that submitted bids include Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power, Japan’s Jera, South Korean Kepco, Japan’s Mitsui, Qatar’s Nebras Energy, and Japan’s Sumitomo.
It is not clear whether the Partnership Authority will issue a shortlist of qualified bidders before January or whether it intends to bypass the pre-qualification stage before issuing the request for proposals.
The Az-Zour North 2 and 3 projects, and Al-Khairan 1, will be developed as two separate contracts, while the Az-Zour North 2 and 3 plant will be integrated for the previously planned second and third phases.
It will have a generating capacity of 2,700 megawatts and a desalination capacity of 120 million imperial gallons per day.
The Partnership Authority said that the Khairan 1 power plant has a capacity of 1,800 megawatts and a desalination capacity of 33 million gallons.
The proposed power plants will use natural gas as a feedstock. The selected developer or developers will have the option of using thermal or reverse osmosis technology for the desalination facility.
Kuwait is under pressure to expand its power generation capacity as demand rises, as the country’s peak power demand was reported to have reached a record high of 15.7 GW in July last year. Prior to that, the peak load had never exceeded 15 GW.
Accelerating demand threatens spare capacity, as actual operational capacity falls short of the total installed capacity of 19 GW.