Phase 1 of largest Qatar power plant complete

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Construction of the largest power and water plant in Doha has been completed up to the first phase.

The QR14bn project being developed in Ras Industrial City now has a eight gas turbines in operation and the capacity to generate 1,833 megawatts (MW) of power out of a total capacity of 2,730 MW upon completion.

Having completed the initial phase, Project C, developer Ras Girtas Power Company is confident that desalination units can start functioning from October this year and that the plant will be fully operational by April 2011.

Increasing Qatar’s total power generation capacity to 9,039 MW and its desalination capacity to 320 million gallons per day, the plant is being developed both to meet high demand in the region and to allow for power exchange with other GCC countries.

Ras Girtas Power Company’s chairman Saad Shareeda Al Kaabi’s said the plant would be a key provider of desalinated water and power in the country, producing 63 million gallons of potable water once fully operational.

In addition, the company’s executive manager Faisal Obeid Al Sidiqi told Al Sharq the plant would more than double the country's power generation capacity and increase water production by more than 30 percent.

Working hard towards completion, main contractor Mitsui has already sub-contracted out to Korean firm Hyundai Engineering and Construction Company, Japanese Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Sidem of France.

When finished, the plant will have eight gas turbine generators, eight heat recovery steam generators, four steam turbine generators and 10 desalination units.