Saudis invest $4 billion to reinforce grid

RABIGH, SAUDI ARABIA - The board of directors of the Saudi Electricity Company SEC ratified projects for generation, transmission and transfer stations with a total investment of $4 billion in November, said SEC Chief Executive Officer Ali bin Saleh al-Barrak.

The approved list included the Rabigh Phase VI generation project and the Qurryah and Ridah power plants.

Rabigh is on the Red Sea coast, 145 kilometers north of Jeddah, and is considered to be one of the major power stations for the western region of Saudi Arabia. The Rabigh project has been carried out in five phases the first phase began operations in 1986 and the fifth this year, while Rabigh Phase VI is expected to be completed by end of 2014, when the total generation capacity of the station will be 5,000 megawatts MW.

Phase VI of the Rabigh power plant will include the establishment and installation of four steam units, which will have a total capacity of 2,400 MW, and all necessary accessories, boilers, condensers, transformers, civil works and mechanicals, with an estimated cost of $3.4 billion. The construction should be completed about 51 months from the awarding of the contract.

Barak said that SEC plans to invest more than $15 billion in the transmission network extension during the next five years. He added that the board of directors approved the current plan to reinforce the existing network in the country by locally and globally floating tenders for the projects. These 380-kilovolt kV transmission-line projects have a total investment cost of $138 million. The project is planned for completion in 30 months from awarding of the contract.

Al-Barrak said the company continues to meet the growing demand for electricity by replacing obsolete equipment and strengthening electricity interconnection projects between the cities and regions of Saudi Arabia. SEC plans to strengthen the grid by adding about 6,000 MW by the end of this year and enlarging the Saudi generation capacity to 44,000 MW, to cover more than 85 of the country electricity needs.