AL BATINAH Power Company and Al Suwadi Power Company said the Sohar Two and Barka Three independent power plants (IPP) achieved full commercial operation last month. Al Batinah Power Company is the owner of the Sohar plant while Al Suwadi Power Company is the owner of the Barka facility.

Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) is the single off-taker of the power sold by both project companies under two, separate 15-year power purchase contracts. Both the Al Batinah and Al Suwadi power companies are owned by a consortium comprised of GDF Suez (46 per cent), Multitech, part of Suhail Bahwan Group (22 per cent), Sojitz Corporation and Shikoku Electric Power Company (11 per cent each) and the Public Authority for Social Insurance of Oman (Pasi) (10 per cent).

Sohar Two and Barka Three are coastal, gas-fired combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plants with a capacity of 744 MW each. Together, they add almost 1,500 MW of power to the sultanate’s current existing capacity of circa 4,500 MW.

The projects are structured as a build-own-operate scheme.

Construction of the projects started in September 2010 with a consortium of Germany’s Siemens and Korea’s GS Engineering and Construction as EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contractors.