The consortium made up of Arabian Bemco Contracting of Saudi Arabia and Germany’s Siemens was awarded in late November the engineering,

procurement and construction (EPC) contract to carry out the 400-MW extension of Al-Aweer H station in Dubai.

The contract, valued at AED 801 million ($218 million), will take 19 months, allowing for completion by the summer of 2006. The consortium’s main challenger was Paris-based Alstom, which was the low bidder at AED 637 million ($173 million) when Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) opened prices on 5 September.

However, Alstom’s bid was judged to be non-compliant. The extension involves the installation of three single-cycle gas turbines at the site, which has existing capacity of 607 MW. The project consultant is the UK’s Mott MacDonald. On completion of the H station expansion, DEWA’s installed generating capacity will reach 5,100 MW. Further investment is planned by the utility in generation, as it seeks to meet double-digit growth in annual electricity demand.