GE wins $700m Saudi Electricity deal

05 Oct 2010

(MENAFN) President and CEO of Saudi Electricity Co. (SEC), Ali Saleh Al-Barrak said that the company has given General Electric Co. (GE), the biggest US conglomerate, a contract worth $700 million to provide tools and services for a new plant SEC is establishing outside Riyadh, Arab News reported.

The CEO added that Saudi Arabia?s demand for reliable electricity is increasing at a rate of 8 percent a year. The new project, Riyadh PP11, is placed at Dhuruma, about 80 kilometers west of Riyadh, and is going to add nearly 1,730 megawatts of power to SEC?s grid. Saudi Arabia, which has an installed capacity of 44,000 megawatts, is expected to need about 70,000 megawatts of power by the year 2020.

The US conglomerate said that it anticipates inaugurating shipping the gas turbines and related tools in 2011 as well as maintenance services.

In June, SEC took a $1.47 billion loan to help finance construction of the plant, which is one of six it aims to build in order to add about 11,000 megawatts of capacity to the world’s largest oil exporter’s electric grid.

The new power plant will constitute 15 percent of the power generation capacity in Saudi Arabia?s central region.

The CEO added that this is an opportunity for both companies to meet the rising demand for power across the Kingdom.

The plant will feature GE?s high efficiency, F technology, gas turbines and advanced emissions control with dry low NOx technology and will use natural gas, a cleaner burning fossil fuel, as its primary fuel.

Shipment of the equipment for Riyadh PP11 will begin in 2011. The first phase of the project, totaling 788 megawatts, is scheduled to enter commercial operation in mid 2012, while the second phase, totaling 941 megawatts, is scheduled to enter full operation by mid 2013.