Dubai’s DEWA confirms start of construction on 2,400MW coal plant

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has confirmed that construction has begun on its 2,400 megawatt (MW) Hassyan clean coal power station.

Construction work on the $1.8bn project is being carried out by the ACWA Power and Harbin Electric consortium.

The power station is slated to be fully operational by 2023.

The plant, based on the Independent Power Producer (IPP) procurement model, will be the first-of-its-kind in the region and is fully compliant with international standards, a DEWA statement said.

DEWA and the consortium signed a 25-year power purchase agreement and a shareholders’ agreement to implement the project in June.

“DEWA selected the ACWA Power and Harbin Electric consortium as the preferred bidder for the 2,400MW Hassyan clean coal power project. The consortium bid a levelised cost of electricity of $4.241 cents per kilowatt (KW), based on May 2015 coal prices,” said Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, managing director and CEO of DEWA.

Under the deal, the consortium has been required to put in place the secure delivery of coal to the project.

All the necessary environmental studies have been carried out, DEWA added.

In August, DEWA announced the installation and launch of projects at the Hassyan Clean Coal Power Plant worth Dhs197m, including a 400kV power transformer.

Read more: $54m transformer installed at Dubai’s Hassyan coal plant

The overall project is part of Dubai’s plans to provide 7 per cent of its energy from clean sources by 2020, 25 per cent by 2030 and 75 per cent by 2050.

The strategy envisions achieving this via 25 per cent energy generation from solar sources, 7 per cent from nuclear power, 7 per cent from clean coal and 61 per cent from gas by 2030, according to Al Tayer.