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Award imminent for Abu Dhabi waste project

17 August 2023

Abu Dhabi-based utility offtaker Emirates Water & Electricity Company (Ewec) and Abu Dhabi Waste Management Company (Tadweer) are expected to award the contract for the development and operation of Abu Dhabi's first waste-to-energy (WTE) project, according to industry sources.

The bids for the contract were opened on 4 May, as MEED reported.

A team comprising Japan's Marubeni Corporation, Switzerland's Hitachi Zosen Inova and Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation is understood to have proposed a levelised waste treatment cost of AED175 ($47.6) a metric tonne (MT) for the project.

This is equivalent to 45 per cent of the tariff of AED391/MT proposed by the second team, which comprises France's Suez and the local Pal Cooling Holding, according to industry sources.

Waste treatment is one of the components of the project, which regional projects tracker MEED Projects estimates to require an investment of about $600m.

MEED understands the power tariff for the project is fixed at 11.215 fils a kilowatt-hour (kWh). 

The WTE plant will be located near the Al-Dhafra landfill in Abu Dhabi. It will have a processing capacity of 900,000 tonnes of waste a year and generate enough electricity to power up to 52,500 households once complete.

The clients issued the request for proposals for the contract in July 2022. The clients completed the site visit with the companies qualified to bid for the contract in September last year, as MEED reported.

The project will involve the financing, construction, operation and maintenance of the WTE plant, which will use advanced moving grate technology to convert municipal solid waste into electricity using a high-efficiency steam turbine generator set.

The plant is expected to reduce carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by up to 1.1 million tonnes a year, equivalent to removing more than 240,000 cars from the road.

The successful developer or developer consortium will own a 40 per cent shareholding in the project's special-purpose vehicle and sign a waste- and power-purchase agreement with Tadweer and Ewec.

The local/Australian Tribe Infrastructure Group is the client's financial adviser, while the UK's Ashurst and Denmark's Ramboll are legal and technical advisers, respectively.

The project aligns with the UAE's aims to divert 75 per cent of waste away from landfills.

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Jennifer Aguinaldo

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