The Acwa Power and Harbin Electric consortium has been named the preferred bidder for Phase 1 of the 1,200 MW Hassyan Clean Coal Power Project.

The consortium bid a Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE) of 4.501 cents/KWh based on May 2015 coal prices, said Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, managing director and CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa).

The Dubai Supreme Council of Energy seeks to diversify Dubai’s energy mix to include 71 per cent from gas, 15 per cent from solar power, 7 per cent from clean coal, and 7 per cent from nuclear power. 

Dewa says the Hassyan clean-coal power plant will use the best available technologies and the highest global standards in this field. It will use the Ultra-supercritical (USC) technology to reduce any negative environmental impact. Dewa has requested that the project meet flue gas emission limits more stringently than emission limits in the Industrial Emissions Directive of the European Union and in the International Finance Corporation Guidelines. All the necessary environmental studies have been carried out. The Hassyan clean coal power plant project will be implemented using the IPP model on a build, own, operate basis and Dewa will be the major stakeholder with 51 per cent share in the company that will be established.

The project is supported by a 25-year Power Project Agreement. Phase 1 comprises two units of 600 MW each and will be operational by March 2020 and March 2021, respectively. Dewa plans to launch two additional projects to bring the total capacity to 3,600 MW.

The plant will be built by Harbin Electric and Alstom with Alstom leading the EPC consortium. It will be operated and maintained by Acwa and Harbin in partnership with Alstom Power and US-based NRG. The coal-handling and trans-shipment facilities will be managed by Louis Dreyfus. France’s EDF Trading will manage the coal supply to the plant.