DUBAI & Other UAE Emirates - Fujairah/Northern Emirates.

Union Water and Electricity Co. (UWEC), a unit of the Abu Dhabi-based UAE Offset Group (UOG) formed on June 26, 2001 in a decree issued by Fujairah's ruler, is having a new 656 MW power plant and 100m g/d water desalination system at the complex near Qidfa, Fujairah. The plants are being built by Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co. of South Korea (until March 2001 known as Hanjung), under an EPC contract worth about Dh 2,944m ($802m) awarded on June 30, 2001 by UWEC. Both plants will be owned and run by UWEC.

Of the power plant's 656 MW capacity, a net power flow of 500 MW will be supplied to the northern UAE emirates through the network of the Federal Electricity and Water Authority (FEWA). The rest will be consumed locally, by the desalination plant and by the power and water transmission lines which are also under construction. The power transmission line, tendered in April 2002 on EPC basis, will involve a 400 kV double circuit (DC) OHTL from the Qidfa complex to the Dhaid main 132/33 kV substation in Sharjah.

The desalination plant will have a hybrid system, with 62.5% (62.5m g/d) of the water to be produced by the multi-stage flash (MSF) process and the remaining 37.5% (37.5m g/d) to come from a reverse osmosis (RO) process. A 185 km water pipeline will be built to Al Ain, along with a 17 km spur line Dhaid.

The water plant should be completed by mid-2003. The power plant should start up by end-2003. In early May 2002 UWEC invited international companies to prequalify for the operation and maintenance (O&M) contract for both the water and power plants. Also in early May 2002 UWEC secured a $950m bridge loan for five years to finance the plants, with the lead arranger being National Bank of Abu Dhabi. UWEC then said it was aiming to take a foreign partner into the project once the gas supply and water and power offtake agreements were in place. Eventually, gas to this complex will be supplied from UOG's Dolphin energy project, which will develop gas in one section of Qatar's North Field and pipe it to the UAE.