The chief executive of the Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) has reportedly moved to reassure the contenders for a gigawatt-scale solar project in the sultanate that plans are still on track for the mega tender.
The Zawya Middle Eastern news portal owned by newswire Reuters has carried a report taken from the Oman Daily Observer newspaper in which the head of the utility was quoted as stating a request for proposals for the Manah I and II tender would be carried out “in the coming few weeks or months.”
With the report carried by Reuters yesterday, the quotes attributed to Yaqoob Saif al Kiyumi would appear to indicate slippage from the second-quarter date reportedly stated by a senior advisor to the OPWP in December, as reported in the same media outlet.
The tender process to award contracts for twin 500-600 MW solar plants at Manah in the Al Dakhiliyah governorate was opened in July, with the expectation the contracts would be awarded within a year.
The OPWP in December identified eight of nine pre-qualified bidders for the two contracts associated with the $800 million, 1,200ha project and the Observer has now named Japanese conglomerate Marubeni Corp as the bidder passed over in the tweets issued by the utility at the time.
The other contenders for the contract are Italian energy company Eni and Japanese-Indian-Taiwanese consortium SB Energy; Chinese developer Jinko Power; Portuguese gas company Tag Energy with local business Al Shanfari Group; French energy giant Total; Saudi utility ACWA Power; Emirati developer Masdar plus French energy business EDF; China’s Power Construction Corp; and a consortium consisting of Korea Western Power Co and compatriot Hanyang Corp with Omani entity Nafath Renewable Energy and a business named Solar Reserve Ltd.
pv magazine has contacted the Omani Ministry of Energy in a bid to confirm progress of the tender.
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