A consortium of Al-Jomaih Energy & Water Company (Saudi Arabia) and Sembcorp Industries (Singapore) has been selected to develop the Taweelah C independent power producer (IPP) project in Abu Dhabi.

The consortium will sign a power purchase agreement (PPA) in mid-May, a source told MEED.

The combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant will have a capacity of 2.5GW. It will be located at the Al-Taweelah power and desalination complex, about 50 kilometres northeast of Abu Dhabi city.

It is understood that China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEEC) will be the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor.

Last September, MEED reported that state offtaker Emirates Water & Electricity Company (Ewec) had received three bids for the facility.

The bidders included:

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

At the time, Mohamed Al-Marzooqi, chief asset development and management officer at Ewec, said the bids would make Taweelah C “one of the lowest tariff CCGT projects in the region”.

The carbon-capture-ready facility had been scheduled to begin commercial operations in the fourth quarter of 2028.

This was based on the initial timeline for a PPA to be signed in the fourth quarter of 2025.

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 the Mirfa 2 RO and Shuweihat 4 RO, under way.

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