Fujairah

Fujairah (Arabic: الفجيرة‎ Al Fuǧaira) is one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, and the only one of the seven that has a coastline solely on the Gulf of Oman and none on the Persian Gulf.

History

Fujairah, dominated by the Sharqiyin tribe, sits at the mouth of the important trade route, the Wadi Ham (which is guarded by the Sharqiyin fort at Bithnah), through the mountains to the interior and the Persian Gulf Coast. Known as the Shamaliyah, the east coast of what is now the UAE was subject to Muscat until 1850, when it was annexed by the Al Qasimi of Sharjah.

The Shamaliyah was governed by the Al Qasimi Wali at Kalba although frequently seceded and in 1901 Hamad bin Abdulla Al Sharqi, chief of the Sharqiyin, declared independence from Sharjah. This was recognised by a number of the Trucial Sheikhs and also by Muscat, but not the British, who were frequently provoked by the independently-minded Ruler.

In 1952, Fujairah entered into treaty relations with Britain, becoming the last of the emirates to join the Trucial States. On 2 December 1971, Fujairah joined the United Arab Emirates.

Fujairah power and desalination plant

Fujairah power and desalination plant is a hybrid plant at Qidfa', Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. It is located next to the Qidfa Power Station 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) south of Khor Fakkan and 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of the city of Fujairah. When constructed, the Fujairah plant was the first hybrid plant in the Middle East, and the largest desalination hybrid plant in the world.

History

A construction contract was awarded to Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Company in June 2001 and the contract was signed in June 2002. In August 2001, a contract for the transmission systems was awarded to a joint venture of Al Jaber Energy Services and Technip. The first few liters of potable water were produced in April 2004. Total construction costs of the project were US$1.2 billion

Technical description

The Fujairah plant has an installed power capacity of 760 MW and it produces 455,000 cubic meters per day (16,100,000 cu ft/d) of water. It is a natural gas-fired plant supplied from the Dolphin Gas Project through the Al Ain-Fujairah pipeline. Its annual consumption is 1.4 billion cubic metres (49 billion cubic feet) of natural gas. Its power generating side consists of four gas turbines, two heat recovery steam generators and two steam turbines in a combined cycle configuration. 120 MW of capacity is used for the water desalination process and 36 MW accounted for the transmission lost, leaving 500 MW of capacity for supplies to the grid through a 68 kilometres (42 mi) long double circuit 400 kV transmission line.