Of the 10 companies that initially showed interest in the construction of a new power plant, only six have responded to Enemalta’s request for proposals.

The closing date for the submission of proposals was 20 February

The six companies are as follows: Man Ferrostal Power/Industry (Germany), Metka (Greece), Isolux (Spain) in consortium with Efacec (Portugal), BWSC (Denmark), Socoin Ingeneria and Construction Industrial (Spain) and Ido Hutny Projekt (Slovakia). A seventh company, Wartsila, was two minutes late in placing their submission and the Contracts Department did not accept their offer. According to experts, the companies listed above can only offer Combined Cycle Power Plants (CCPP) using the frame 6B from General Electric burning diesel oil and diesel engines burning heavy fuel oil (HFO).

Nuova Pignone, the company that supplied and installed the last combined cycle power plant at Delimara Power Station, did not submit a proposal, even though they purchased the Request for Proposals document and attended the clarification meeting held on 15 December.

General Electric is offering their gas turbines for the combined cycle plants to four of the above companies, while the other two are offering diesel plants. After analysis of the proposals, the bidders will be short-listed and invited for the second phase, ie the bidding process.

Experts explained that the capital costs for a 100MWe Turnkey CCPP would be in the region of E90 million while that of a diesel plant is lower.

Combined cycle power plants could burn either diesel oil or gas, reaching an efficiency of 45 per cent on oil, while diesel engines could run on diesel oil, gas or heavy oil, with an efficiency as high as 54 per cent in combined cycle form. The winning company will have to abide by the emission control regulations issued by the EU.

Unlike the power stations currently in use, the new plant will also be subject to stringent emission control levels in terms of the dangerous pollutants carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and ammonia.

Furthermore, diesel engines burning heavy fuel oil are cheaper to run with lower maintenance costs.

All four companies have an in-house plant and have experience in building similar plants.

The candidates are required by Enemalta to have a 10-year track record in generation plant construction and have available management resources with experience in turnkey design, supply, installation and commissioning of a power plant. Additionally, the successful candidate must have “extensive experience” in generation plant construction and operation and will also have undertaken and successfully completed at least two similar projects over the last five years, with each of the two plants having been in successful operation for at least 10,000 hours by the time of tendering. The successful candidate must also have been the main contractor in the turnkey design, supply, installation and commissioning of at least five fossil fuel-fired power stations or other “power islands”, with each such plant having been in successful commercial operation for at least 10,000 hours. The new plant can either be built at a designated site at Delimara Power Station or at a more suitable location “if it is more advantageous to their plant subject to the necessary permit from various agencies”.

Enemalta is considering two options for the project’s implementation: a build-and-transfer contract, which would consist of a turnkey contract for the supply and construction of the plant, and a build-own-and-operate contract, which would see the successful bidder entering into a power purchase agreement with Enemalta. The 100MW power plant must be capable of “being continuously operated on liquid fossil fuels as the main energy source”, according to the document.