Japanese duo bags Qatar power and water contract

Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) has selected a Japanese consortium of Mitsubishi Corporation and Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), named K1 Energy, to build an electricity and water plant comprising a 590,000 m³/d desalination facility and a 2.4 GW gas-fired power station at Umm Al Houl, 20km south of the city of Doha.

Kahramaa has also signed a 25-year power and water purchase agreement with K1. The agreement followed an international tender issued by Kahramaa in May 2014.

Kahramaa will sign the final agreement for the project with a special purpose company comprising K1 Energy, Qatar Electricity and Water, Qatar Petroleum (QP) and Qatar Foundation (QF).

Mitsubishi holds 98.5% of K1 with the rest owned by Tepco. QEWC will hold a 60% stake in the new plant with K1 taking 30% interest and QP and QF each having 5%.

Power and water production at the plant are expected to start commercial operations in 2017. The project has been planned to meet the increasing power and water demands in the country arising from its steady economic growth.