Nineteen proposals have been submitted by energy companies, including some top international names, to build the new gas power plant in Delimara, which the Government plans to have up and running by March 2015.
This is the first process meant to deliver on Labour’s biggest electoral pledge: lower water and electricity bills.
Shell, Edison and Russian-owned giant Gazprom among bidders
The proposals for the purchase and supply of gas for the new Delimara plant were received after an international call for expressions of interest was made on April 11 via international energy journals and websites.
Companies were invited to register their interest and submit outline proposals for a long-term power purchase agreement and a gas supply contract.
This will see Enemalta buying some 200MW of electricity from the winning bidder, along with gas to fire its own existing 150MW BWSC power station, which will be converted to gas.
The Government intends having the plant manned by Enemalta employees who were given a job guarantee prior to the election.
Some of the companies that submitted their proposals are big-name firms such as Shell, Milanese energy provider Edison and Russian-owned global energy giant Gazprom. There is also a Chinese energy company and a Korean shipbuilding company.
The 19 companies, joint ventures and consortia are: Electro Gas Malta Consortium; Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co. Limited; Edison Spa; GMR Energy Limited; Bumi Armada; Abener Energia SA; Vitol SA; Endevour Energy Holdings LLC and Exodus Crossing LLC; Yildirim Energy Investments Inc; Energy World International Limited; Soffimat-Gestamp; Med-Gas AS; Gasfin Development SA; CPECC China Power Engineering Consulting Group Corporation; Independent Power Corporation plc; Mag Air Energy LLC; Devco International LLC; Shell Gas and Power Developments BV and Gazprom Marketing and Trading Limited.
The submissions will go through an evaluation process and then be shortlisted. The final contract is expected to be signed and sealed by the end of September.
The winning bid will be chosen on the basis of this call for expressions of interest rather than a fully fledged tendering process, with the Government saying this was allowed by EU procurement rules that made an exception in the case of tender procedures for the purchase of fuel and electricity.