Acceptance tests for the US$ 1 billion Salalah Independent Water & Power Plant (IWPP) in Oman have been successfully completed, Sembcorp Industries announced on 28 May 2012.
The plant was built by a joint venture between Sembcorp Industries‘s wholly-owned subsidiary Sembcorp Utilities, the Oman Investment Corporation and Bahrain-based Instrata Capital. It will provide power and water under a 15-year power and water purchase agreement with the Oman Power & Water Procurement Company, which is wholly owned by the Oman government.
The IWPP consists of a 490 MW gas-fired power plant and a seawater desalination plant with a total water production capacity of 15 MIGD (69,000 m³/d).
The first phase of the project was completed in July 2011, within a tight timeline of 19 months from the signing of the power and water purchase agreement. The second phase was subsequently completed in the first quarter of 2012. With the completion of this third and final phase, the plant will commence full commercial operations.
The completion of Salalah will add to Sembcorp’s portfolio in the Middle East, where it has been operating since 2006. Within the region, Sembcorp also owns, operates and maintains the Fujairah 1 IWPP in the UAE – one of the world’s largest operating hybrid desalination plants.