To mark the occasion, a ceremony was held at the headquarters of Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC), where the project’s power purchase agreement (PPA) and shareholders’ agreement was signed. The ceremony was attended by Jasim Husain Thabet, CEO and managing director of ADPower; Yoshiaki Yokota, COO of Marubeni Corporation’s power business division; and Othman Al-Ali, CEO of EWEC; and was witnessed by Akihiko Nakajima, ambassador of Japan to the UAE, and Saif Mohamed Alhajeri, chairman of the ADPower board of directors.
The Fujairah F3 IPP project includes the development, financing, construction, operation, maintenance and ownership of a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant, together with associated infrastructure. Located in the Fujairah water and electricity complex, between the existing Fujairah F1 and Fujairah F2 water and electricity plants, the Fujairah F3 IPP project will have a contracted power capacity of 2.4 GW, bringing ADPower’s current power generation capacity to 20.4 GW. Once operational, Fujairah F3’s capacity will be able to power the equivalent of 380,000 households.
ADPower CEO Thabet said: “Our ambition is to transform Abu Dhabi’s water and electricity sector into a reliable, efficient, sustainable and value-generating system that optimizes our robust portfolio of assets and creates unique partnership opportunities. The F3 IPP project represents a significant milestone in this journey, deploying world-class technology and efficiency standards to meet the UAE’s evolving power needs.”
EWEC CEO Al-Ali said: “The Fujairah F3 IPP project will apply one of the most efficient and advanced CCGT technologies available in the region, producing more energy that aligns with the UAE Energy Strategy 2050’s CO2 emissions reduction targets. It will play a strategic role in the growth and development of the UAE, providing secure and reliable power to match the needs of consumers in Abu Dhabi and the UAE.”
In early 2019, EWEC received 30 expressions of interest from potential bidders for the Fujairah F3 IPP project, of which 20 were qualified to bid after submitting statements of qualification. The project received six bids, which were opened in October at EWEC’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi.
Through this project, the government of Abu Dhabi will indirectly own a 60 percent stake, while the remaining 40 percent will be owned by Marubeni Corporation. The construction of the Fujairah F3 IPP project, which is the largest CCGT power plant in the UAE’s current fleet, is expected to commence swiftly to enable EWEC to procure early power by summer 2022 and full generation by summer 2023.
