JEDDAH, 4 October 2003 — A large power plant in Riyadh with electricity supply lines to Sudair and Qasim will open this week. Established at a cost of SR5.128 billion, the plant has a capacity to generate 1,286 megawatts. Work on the project started in 1988.
The plant, which is located 55 kilometers east of the capital, was built by the General Electric Company of Saudi Arabia, a joint venture with the United States.
According to Al-Jazirah Arabic daily, the plant’s capacity could be increased to 1,986 megawatts in the second phase of the project. The plant has four generating units, each with four gas-powered and two steam-powered turbines. This is the ninth power generating plant in Riyadh. The use of natural gas in the plant’s operation is likely to reduce its production and maintenance cost.
A recent study conducted by the Dubai Center for International Research and Studies and the Gulf Organization for Industry Consultations, the Kingdom’s electricity sector will require $90 billion (SR337.5 billion) over the next 20 years.
Minister of Water and Electricity Dr. Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, announced last week that his ministry was opening 21 new electricity projects worth SR48 billion to Saudi and foreign investors. The new projects, which require enormous investments, are in the areas of power generation and distribution, and water desalination.
In a previous statement, Ahmed Al-Mudaiheem, deputy governor of the Saline Water Conversion Corporation, said SWCC was seeking participation of national and international companies to implement four projects — Shuaiba Phase III, two desalination plants in Jubail, and the Shaqeek plant in the southern region.
Some 30 companies, around 20 of them Saudi, have offered to participate in the new water and electricity projects, Al-Jazirah daily quoted the official as saying. He said the private sector would have a 60 percent stake in the new projects. The other 40 percent will be divided between the Water and Electricity Company (eight percent) and the Public Investment Fund (32 percent).
Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest producer of desalinated water, with 27 plants on the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf, supplying drinking water to major urban and industrial centers through a network of water pipes more than 3,680 km long.
Desalination meets 70 percent of the Kingdom’s drinking water needs. The Kingdom currently generates 3,600 megawatts of electric power from desalination plants.
