Oman Power and Water Procurement Co (OPWP) will develop the two plants with an aggregate capacity of 2850MW to 3150MW.

Following pre-qualification OPWP had floated a request for proposal (RfP) earlier this year.

'Proposals in response to the RfP for the development of two IPPs at Ibri and Sohar were received from interested parties on Sunday' OPWP said on its website. The interested parties who submitted proposals are: French multinational electric utility company Engie-led consortium Japan's Marubeni-led consortium and Mitsui-led consortium.

In an interview with Muscat Daily earlier this year Eng Ahmed al Jahdhami CEO of OPWP had said the contract for the project is expected to be awarded in October. 'The Ibri IPP will have an early power requirement by 2018 with commercial operations at both sites planned to commence in 2019. The project will add to MIS capacity and enable us to meet demand until 2021' he said.

The IPPs will be a major addition to Oman's main integrated system (MIS) where peak demand is expected to grow at about nine per cent per year from 5122MW in 2014 to 9530MW in 2021. Energy consumption is expected to grow from about 25 terrawatt-hours (TWh) in 2014 to 47TWh in 2021 according to OPWP's latest seven-year statement.