Contractor prequal call for UAE Hatta hydro project 16 Nov 2017

International contractors have been called to submit Expressions of Interest (EoI) for a place on the bid shortlist for the Hatta pumped storage project to be built in the United Arab Emirates.

Tunnel construction for UAE Hatta pumped storage project

Government-owned client, Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) has set a submission deadline of 16 November 2017 for contractors to seek prequalification to the shortlist for the 250MW (net output) hydro project which involves some tunnelling.

The project is to be built on an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) basis. Design work is already being undertaken by French energy utility EDF, which was awarded the consultancy contract in mid-2017 to undertake design, procurement and supervision services.

DEWA plans to create the Hatta pumped storage project by using the existing Sadd Hatta Al Awwal reservoir on Wadi Zahra to act as the lower water body. A new upper reservoir is to be constructed in the Hajar Mountains, providing a gross head difference of 300m in the Hatta region of the Emirate of Dubai.

Tunnelling works on the project will call for excavations through peridotite rocks to join the reservoirs, and will involve construction of a pressure tunnel, pressure shaft and surge tank. In addition, EPC contract works on the project will call for a reinforced concrete dam and power plant construction, and a transmission line from Hatta to Dubai.

DEWA said in early October that almost 15% of the engineering studies for the Hatta pumped storage project had been completed. The project is part of the Emirates Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, which seeks to have three-quarters of the energy mix for Dubai provided by clean energy by the target date.

Dubai is host city of the next World Tunnelling Congress in a little over five months time – WTC 2018, in April 2018, for which TunnelTalk is an official media partner.