Dubai plans to build giant power and water project

Dubai: Dubai is planning to build one of the world’s largest power and desalination complexes, a multibillion dollar plant that would produce nearly as much power as New York City’s total generating capacity. The new plant would be capable of producing 9,000 megawatts of electricity and 600 million gallons a day of desalinated water, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday, citing people familiar with the project. Dubai’s planned mega-complex will sit next to Dubai World Central, intended to be the world’s largest airport, and the giant Jebel Ali port and free zone – where most of the emirate’s power generation capacity of about 5,000 megawatts is presently located. The completion date of the new plant has not been announced. State-run utility Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, or Dewa, invited international engineering companies to bid by June 10 for an initial contract to advise on the plant’s construction. Dewa awarded contracts in March worth $1.7 billion to South Korea’s Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction and Italy’s Fisia Italimpianti to build a new 1,330-megawatt power and 70-million gallon-a-day water desalination plant in Jebel Ali. Dow Jones reported that the new complex could cost between $12 billion and $15 billion to build. The need for power and water is pushing up demand for natural gas used to fire power plants. In June, the UAE will begin importing gas from Qatar through a pipeline. In April, Dubai and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding that could see Iran supply Dubai with electricity via a 180-kilometre underwater cable. ON THE RISE Energy and waterdemand going up Dubai is one of the world’s fastest-growing cities and among its most ravenous per-capita consumers of electricity and water. Energy and water demand in Dubai are rising at rates of 11 per cent to 18 per cent a year, according to industry estimates, while the emirate’s economy and population of 1.5 million continue to expand. Source : Gulkfnews