Supplying Oman

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The inauguration of the Sohar independent power and desalination plant in Oman on 16 December 2007 was the celebration of many years hard work for all concerned.

The Omani government took the decision to build the facility back in 2003 in response to rising demand for power and water in the Sohar zone of the sultanate.

Estimates said around 400 MW of power would need to be installed every two years to keep pace with consumption growth, while peak demand for desalinated water was forecast to reach about 400 000 m3 per day by 2013.

The Sohar region is a mix of residential and industrial properties. The area is enjoying booming development driven by the Sohar Industrial Port.

Open tender

An open international tender for the project was run by the Oman Ministry of Housing, Water and Electricity and four bidding teams were selected.

The final discussions came down to two parties before a SUEZ Energy International consortium was awarded the contract to design, build, own, operate and maintain the Sohar independent water and power project.

SUEZ's consortium partners were local firms, National Trading, Zubair Entreprise, WJ Towell & Co and Sogex Oman Company, which, along with the Ministry of Defence Pension Fund, each took a 10% stake in the Sohar Power Company that was set up to run the plant. Suez holds the remaining 50% of the shares.

EPC contract

In August 2004, the Sohar Power Company awarded Doosan Heavy Industries the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract, after it submitted the most competitive bid.

At the time of winning the contract, Doosan vice president, Lee Yoon-Young, said: "With this order, we have not only entered the Oman market, but also secured a more advantageous position in the Middle East market, where large-scale power and plant orders are expected to increase in the future due to the recent sharp oil price hikes."

Doosan agreed to supply three steam generators with supplementary firing and four multi-stage flash evaporators.

Siemens was then subcontracted to provide three 120 MW gas turbines and Alstom was signed up to deliver a 220 MW condensing steam turbine.

Local contractor, BEC was brought on board to carry out the electro-mechanical installation and the Omani-British firm, Douglas OHI, was given the contract for the civil works.

Construction begins

A plot had already been set aside for the plant in the Sohar industrial area, north of Muscat, on the Gulf of Oman, where essential infrastructure such as gas supply, seawater intake facilities and an electrical substation were already being built because of the nearby Sohar refinery.

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