The market dialogue will be initiated with a virtual information meeting on 2 May to introduce the project and the upcoming tender followed by pre-qualification during the summer of 2023. Expansion of Greenland’s largest hydropower plant is to be tendered in one turnkey contract, with an estimated total value of DKK 1.8 billion (US$ 266.7 million) excluding VAT, according to an indicative notice published on the EU’s procurement website on 26 April. The contractor will be responsible for both civil and electrical works. Prequalification will be conducted with an expected selection of four contractors. The tender will be conducted through negotiations, with two rounds of bidding expected. It is expected that the contract will be awarded to the winning contractor in the spring of 2024 with commissioning of the expanded power station in 2028.
The expansion of the Buksefjord hydropower plant in Buksefjorden will entail the addition of a new power station with two 27.5 MW units, adjacent to the current power plant and connected to the existing water tunnel system, to achieve a total maximum power of 100 MW, which is the maximum amount of power that can be handled by the existing transmission lines. As a result, the plant’s net annual production is designed to increase from 255 GWh to an expected maximum capacity of 660 GWh. The expansion project will also involve establishing a new 16 km transfer tunnel from the current intake at Lake Kangerluarssunnguup Tasersua (KANG) to Lake Isortuarsuup Tasia (ISTA). This will increase the available amount of water from 352 x 106 m³ to 1248 x 106 m³. Since 2010, increased production from the existing plant to meet growing demand in the capital Nuuk has drained more water from its reservoir than the amount of inflow. As a result it is expected that there will be too little water in the lake to supply the full amount of energy, and that, without the expansion, the city may need to return to oil-fired generators to meet its growing power demand. The transfer tunnel will be blasted from two excavation faces; from the outlet side at KANG and from the inlet side at ISTA. An access tunnel approximately 300 m long will be built parallel to the transfer tunnel and leading to the tunnel shut-off valve chamber. Before work on the tunnel can begin, a construction road must be built from the existing road at KANG to the construction site at the outlet to KANG, and from KANG a connecting road must be made to the construction area at the inlet at ISTA. During this phase, the transfer tunnel will be engineered and sized to allow for the subsequent future construction of a further power station between ISTA and KANG (Expansion 3).
A new access tunnel to Power Station 2 will also need to be built parallel to the existing access tunnel. This new tunnel will be used during the construction of the new station to limit disruption to the operation of the existing station during this phase of the project. Afterwards, the new access tunnel can be used as an additional emergency escape route.
The market dialogue will be initiated with a virtual information meeting on 2 May at 3 to 4 pm (GMT+2). Interested contractors are requested to send an email to Rasmus Johannsen, rajo@niras.dk for an invite to the meeting. Potential tenderers will then be invited to express interest in another meeting for a focused dialogue to be held during the period of 8 to 12 May. These meetings can be held virtually. This dialogue will both involve topics the contracting authority has identified a need to gain input to and topics the potential tenderer has a need to address. The participants will consist of representatives of the contracting authority and the potential tenderer.
The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, at: https://nukissiorfiit.gl. For additional information, contact: Morten Koldby, Nukissiorfiit, Issortarfimmut 3, Nuuk 3900, Greenland; E-mail: mkc@nukissiorfiit.gl; Telephone: +299 533836; website: https://nukissiorfiit.gl and/or Hans Ulrik Skifte, NunaGreen A/S, Imaneq 1A, 8. Postboks 579 Nuuk 3900 Greenland; E-mail: hus@nunagreen.gl; Website: https://nunagreen.gl/
