Barka II, Oman

What is it?

A greenfield independent power and water project on Oman’s Gulf coast, producing 120,000m³/d of seawater through reverse osmosis, and 678MW of new power generation capacity. As part of the IWPP, the developers also acquired a 668MW brownfield power plant at Al Rusail.

Who is responsible?

The developer consortium featured GdF Suez Energy International, Mubadala Development Company and National Trading Company. The EPC contractors were Doosan Heavy Industries (power) and Degrémont (water).

What makes it special?

• The project is the first large-scale desalination facility in Oman to use reverse osmosis technology. The success of the facility is testament to the willingness of the Oman Power & Water Procurement Company to embrace fresh thinking.

• Barka II was the first Gulf IWPP to be tendered without a guaranteed baseload capacity on the power side. This required an imaginative approach from the developer consortium.

• Despite the complexity of the project, the developers were able to dig deep and work with the client to produce the best technical solution to the challenge. Investors will be able to share in their success through a partial IPO on the Muscat stock exchange later this year.