The Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC) has issued the request for qualifications (RFQ) for the planned Rabigh 4 independent water project (IWP) to the companies which submitted expressions of interest (EOI) for the 600,000 cubic meters a day (Cm/d) project, Energy-utilities reports.
The Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC) has issued the request for qualifications (RFQ) for the planned Rabigh 4 independent water project (IWP) to the companies which submitted expressions of interest (EOI) for the project in June.
The proposed Rabigh 4 IWP will have a capacity of 600,000 cubic meters a day (cm/d).
Energy & Utilities reported in May that developers had been invited to submit EOI by 30 June.
The successful company from the upcoming tender will develop the project under a 25-year water purchase agreement (WPA). The WPA will be backed by a credit support agreement from the Saudi government.
The Rabigh 4 IWP project is part of the kingdom’s program to develop 16 IWPs to service areas across the kingdom.
Although Riyadh successfully implemented the independent water and power project (IWPP) model between 2004 and 2010, awarding contracts for three considerable power and water cogeneration projects during this period, that majority of the kingdom’s desalination capacity had been delivered through government-funded engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts.
The push towards utilizing public-private partnership (PPP) models to develop power and water projects has been swift since the fall in oil prices in 2014 and the subsequent launch of the Vision 2030 economic reform plan in 2016.
The kingdom awarded the contract for its first PPP standalone desalination plant, the $700m Rabigh 3 IWP, in late December 2019. An Acwa Power-led consortium will develop the 600,000 cm/d plant, one of the largest reverse osmosis (RO) plants in the world.
The kingdom also awarded a contract for developing the 450,000 cm/d Shuqaiq 3 IWP in the first quarter of 2019 to a consortium of Spain’s Acciona, Japan’s Marubeni, and the local Rawafid Alhadarah.
In April 2020, SWPC signed a water purchase agreement (WPA) with a consortium led by the local Acwa Power for the planned 600,000 cm/d Jubail 3A IWP.
One year later, in April 2021, a consortium of France’s Engie and local firms Nesma and Alajlan was selected as the preferred bidder for the 570,000 cm/d Jubail 3B IWP project.
The consortium was selected as the preferred bidder by the Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC) with a levelised water cost of SR1.59/cubic meter (cm).
