Abu Dhabi has awarded a Dh1.7-billion ($462 million) contract to Siemens Energy to build a combined cycle power and desalination plant at Shuweihat.

The Shuweihat 2 power plant is expected to produce 1,500 MW of power and 455,000 cu.m./d of desalinated water, which will be pumped into the local water supply network.

The plant is scheduled to be operational by 2011.

The project is being developed by a joint venture of the local utility Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA) and GDF Suez, that was created in September 2007 through the meger of the Franco-Belgian power utility group Suez and French-governement controlled Gaz de France, the prime contractor for the project.

This is Siemens second order from GDF Suez after erection of the Al Ezzel combined cycle power plant in Bahrain and the fifth project for ADWEA in Abu Dhabi.

Under a 20-year agreement ADWEA will be the sole off-taker the entire water and power output of the plant.

Consortium leader  Siemens will construct the plant as a turnkey project together with the consortium partners South Korea's Doosan Heavy Industries and Korea's Samsung Engineering & Construction. Samsung Engineering & Construction will undertake the civil works while Doosan Heavy Industries will build the seawater desalination plant based on MSF technology.

This is Siemens second order from GDF Suez after erection of the Al Ezzel combined cycle power plant in Bahrain and the fifth project for ADWEA in Abu Dhabi, said a company official. Its scope of supply in this project is mainly the power plant's four SGT5-4,000F gas turbines, two SST5-6,000 steam turbines, six generators, electrical systems and an I&C package for total plant control.

The Independent Water and Power Plant (IWPP) is ADWEA's eighth facility that will meet the increasing demand for power and water in the country.

Abdulla Saif Al Nuaimi, director of privatisation at ADWEA, said, "ADWEA had finalised the financing of Shuweihat S2, one of its most prominent privatisation projects." at the Arabian Power and Water Summit in Abu Dhabi.

Al Nuaimi said, "Due to our achievement while undertaking this project, we were in a position to accomplish 10 projects, eight IWPPs and two sewage treatment plants, raising Dh60 billion in foreign investments."

He said that despite the global financial downturn, the S2 IWPP will be completed on time.

''Shuweihat I and II, located 200 km west of Abu Dhabi, are among the highest-performance plants of their type and stand out by their sheer size,'' said Michael Suess, CEO of the Fossil Power Generation Division of Siemens Energy.

''The approximately 1.2-sq km Shuweihat II involves a surface area the size of around 180 football fields,'' said Suess.

According to the Shuweihat CMS International Power Company, which operates the complex, the facility is already the largest combined power / desalination plant in Abu Dhabi - although it is still in its expansion phase.

Siemens has built similar facilities in other parts of the Gulf, including the Jebel Ali plant in Dubai and completed the second stage at Al Taweelah in Abu Dhabi comprised of a 970-megawatt power plant and a desalination plant with capacity to produce 300,000 cubic metres of drinking water daily.

Abu Dhabi has the world's third-highest per capita drinking-water consumption. And according to the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA), daily water consumption is set to increase to 3.57 million cubic meters by 2015.

The electrical energy to power consumption is increasing with its growing industrial base  and the population's air conditioning needs. Average peak electricity consumption in Abu Dhabi will reach approximately 8,000megawatts (MW) in 2015. As a result, the emirate is investing a substantial portion of its oil income in the creation of effective water and energy supply infrastructures to keep pace with population growth and industrial development.