A Marubeni-led consortium led the way when bids were opened by the Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (ADWEA) on 6 March 2013 for the Al Mirfa Independent Power & Water Project.
The build-own-operate contract is for a project which will have an expected net power generation of 1,100 MW, in addition to the present 400 MW, and 30 MIGD (136,000 m³/d) reverse-osmosis seawater desalination capacity added to the 23 MIGD (105,000 m³/d) currently installed at the plant.
Five other consortia are in the bidding, led by GDF-Suez (France), SembCorp (Singapore), Sumitomo Corporation (Japan), EDF (France) and Doosan Heavy Industries (Korea).