Emirates Water and Electricity Company, the sole procurer and supplier of water and electricity in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, announced on Wednesday that it has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) notice to develop and operate the Taweelah C Independent Power Plant (IPP) project, a new carbon-capture-ready Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) plant located in the Al Taweelah Power and Desalination Complex in Abu Dhabi emirate.

The 2.5 Gigawatts (GW) capacity gas-fired power plant will primarily provide transitional capacity to support the integration of large-scale solar energy and provide additional flexibility during periods of peak power demand, EWEC said in a statement posted on its 'X' account and its website.

The plant is expected to begin commercial operations in the third quarter of 2028.

The deadline to submit the RFPs is the fourth quarter of 2024.

EWEC will enter into long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with the developer or developer consortium, which will own 40 percent of the special purpose vehicle (SPV) with the remaining equity held indirectly by the Abu Dhabi government. 

While the duration of the PPA wasn't specified, EWEC had signed a 25-year PPA for the 2.4GW Fujairah F3 IPP. The gas-fired CCGT plant, with an investment cost of 4.2 billion UAE dirhams ($1.2 billion) was scheduled to start operations in April 2023.  

Earlier this month, a consortium of Saudi’s Aljomaih Energy & Water Company (AEW) with Ajlan & Bros, Buhur and France’s EDF had announced financial close of Taiba 2 and Qassim 2 IPP projects that are slated to be the first CCGT power plants in Saudi Arabia with provision for carbon capture.

(Editing by Anoop Menon) (anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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