Dubai is planning to build one of the world’s largest power and desalination complexes, capable of producing 9,000MW of electricity, at a cost of up to $15bn, according to people familiar with the plans.

The new complex will be vital to meet surging demand for electricity and water in Dubai, one of seven emirates in the UAE, the second-largest Arab economy in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia.

Dubai’s state utility will build the complex, which will be capable of producing power almost equal to New York City’s total installed generation capacity, near the emirate’s border with Abu Dhabi, the people told Dow Jones Newswires.

The complex will also produce 600mn gallons a day of desalinated water, about double Singapore’s daily water consumption.

It will include the Hassyan power and seawater desalination plant, known as P station, which is under planning and is to be developed in two phases to produce a third of the total capacity planned at the complex.

State-utility Dubai Electricity & Water Authority, or DEWA, recently invited international engineering companies to bid by June 10 for an initial contract to advise on the construction of the P station.



Development of the plant will involve preparing the site’s infrastructure such as water intake facilities, used for cooling, to accommodate the complex’s ultimate scope, the people familiar with the matter said.

Energy and water demand in Dubai are rising at rates of 11%-18%, according to industry estimates, as the emirate’s economy and population, currently 1.5mn, continue to expand rapidly.
“I reckon it grows at 18% if you include all the new developments in Dubai,” said a UAE-based industry source.

Arabain Gulf countries, flush with cash from three years of high oil prices, are spending billions of dollars on new infrastructure and industrial projects to diversify their economies and create jobs for their fast-growing population. This in turn is boosting demand for electricity and water.

Dubai’s planned mega-complex will sit next to Dubai World Central, to be the world’s largest airport, and Jebel Ali, a port and free zone adjacent to which most of the emirate’s power generation capacity of about 5,000MW is presently located.

The new complex could cost between $12bn and $15bn to develop, based on plants recently tendered in the emirate.
DEWA awarded contracts in March worth $1.7bn to South Korea’s Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction and Italy’s Fisia Italimpianti to build a new 1,330MW power and 70mn gallon-a-day water desalination plant in Jebel Ali.