Situated in Shuiba, in Kuwait’s Al-Ahmadi region, the mostly gas-fuelled plant currently has a capacity to produce some 270,000 cubic metres of water and 800 MW of electricity.
Strikingly, MEW’s tender document for the power plant did not include production availability data for 2018-19. It is known that production availability was between 74% and 80% between 2015 and 2017, which is way below industry benchmarks.
Many of Kuwait’s largest largest power plants are more than 20 years old and are reaching the end of their lifespan. Turbines at Doha East, Doha West, Shuaiba and Al-Zour South steam plants have been derated and are operating below capacity. Hence, the emirate’s available generation capacity is estimated to be around 7 percent below nameplate capacity of 14,700 MW.
Call for tenders
Eager to find buyers that will upgrade the North Shuaiba CCGT, the ministry recently invited bidders for advisory and valuation contracts. The government hopes to fetch some $12.6 billion through the privatization, but that may well be unrealistic.
One well-established consultancy refrained to bid for the contract amid concerns over the asset’s actual state and the amount of costly retrofits required before the plant would be ready for regular dispatch.
Mitsui and Italy’s Fisia Italimpianti had been the EPC contractors to build the North Shuaiba power plant in 2010-12 on a lump-sum turnkey basis. Subcontractors and equipment suppliers for the project were Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Doosan Heavy Industries, GE and Siemens.
The 778 MW plant is currently run by a joint venture of Malaysia’s TNB Remaco and Kuwait’s Kharafi National under an operation and maintenance (O&M) contract, which expires in mid-2020.