Emirates Water & Electricity Company (Ewec) has received three proposals for the development of the Taweelah C independent power producer (IPP) project in Abu Dhabi.

The plant will have a capacity of 2.5GW and is scheduled to begin commercial operations in the fourth quarter of 2028.

The carbon-capture-ready combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) facility will be located at the Al-Taweelah power and desalination complex, about 50 kilometres northeast of Abu Dhabi city.

Three consortiums submitted bids:

• Al-Jomaih Energy & Water Company / Sembcorp Industries
• Sumitomo Corporation / Korea Overseas Infrastructure & Urban Development Corporation / Korean Midland Power
• Korea Western Power Company / Etihad Water & Electricity / Kyuden International

Bid prices were not disclosed. However, Mohamed Al-Marzooqi, chief asset development and management officer at Ewec, described them as “competitive”.

The bids will make Taweelah C “one of the lowest tariff CCGT projects in the region”, he said.

Taweelah C is part of Ewec’s wider programme to support the UAE’s Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative and the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy’s Clean Energy Strategic Target 2035.

Ewec plans to raise solar power capacity to 18GW and wind capacity to 2.6GW by 2035, while reducing the carbon intensity of its power generation by more than half compared to 2019.

Ewec is also expanding its low-carbon water desalination capacity, with the Taweelah reverse osmosis (RO) plant already operating as the world’s largest RO facility and additional projects, such as Mirfa 2 RO and Shuweihat 4 RO, under way.

By 2030, the company expects 95% of Abu Dhabi’s installed water capacity to come from RO technology.

The Taweelah C IPP is designed to provide transitional generation capacity to enable large-scale renewable integration while maintaining system stability.

The project is expected to be awarded and the power purchase agreement signed in the fourth quarter of 2025.