The Syrian Ministry of Energy has signed final concession agreements with an international consortium led by Qatar’s Urbacon (UCC) Holding to build and operate eight power plants with a total capacity of 5GW.

The consortium includes Urbacon Concessions Investment (a subsidiary of UCC Holding), Kalyon GIS Energy (Turkiye), Cengiz Energy (Turkiye) and Power International (US).

UCC Holding and Power International USA are both subsidiaries of Qatar’s Power International Holding. The US-based subsidiary was likely created to ease transactions and imports to Syria under the new General Licence 25 (GL 25) US sanctions exemptions for Syria.

The final contracts cover the construction and operation of the following four natural gas-fired combined-cycle plants:

• North Aleppo (1,200MW)
• Deir Ezzor (1,000MW)
• Zayzoun (1,000MW)
• Mehardeh (800MW)

It also includes four solar projects totalling 1,000MW across Widian Al-Rabee, Deir Ezzor, Aleppo and Homs.

The agreements were signed in Damascus by Energy Minister Mohammad Al-Bashir and UCC Holding president Ramez Al-Khayyat, in the presence of consortium representatives and senior Syrian energy officials.

The deal represents Syria’s first integrated public-private partnership model in the energy sector and marks the start of the implementation phase of Syria’s national energy rehabilitation programme.

The projects also form part of a wider Qatari investment package in Syria.

In May, the ministry signed a $7bn memorandum of understanding that set the framework for strategic energy cooperation.

Preparatory engineering and technical works, including site surveys and feasibility studies, have since been completed.

Completion is expected within three years for the gas plants and two years for the solar plants, with the projects doubling the country’s output.