JEDDAH, 15 May 2006 — A giant dual-purpose Independent Water and Power Plant (IWPP) will be established in Jubail shortly at a cost of SR11 billion. Marafiq (the Power and Water Utility Company for Jubail and Yanbu) has received offers from major national and international companies to carry out the project.
“This is the biggest such project in the whole region,” said Prince Saud ibn Abdullah ibn Thunayyan, chairman of the Royal Commission and Marafiq. “It also represents a turning point in repatriating national funds and drawing foreign investment to water and electricity projects,” he added.
The new IWPP, to be established in Jubail Industrial City by 2009, will supply 2,700MW electricity and 800,000 cubic meters of desalinated water daily. Designed according to advanced technical standards, the project will be set up on the basis of the build, operate and transfer (BOT) system.
“All developers, to whom Marafiq sent invitations, have offered their tenders. This again reflects the strength and stability of the Saudi economy and the confidence of investors in the owners and clients of Marafiq,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted Prince Saud as saying.
Referring to the prices offered by the developers, the chairman said they were competitive. “All companies which have offered their tenders are well-qualified at international level and have proven capabilities.”
The Jubail plant is the second largest IWPP in the Kingdom. Last November, the Ministry of Water and Electricity awarded a SR9.1 billion contract to a consortium of Saudi and Malaysian companies to set up Shuaiba-3 desal plant.
Water and Electricity Minister Abdullah Al-Hussayen, who supervised the signing of IWPP agreements in Riyadh, said Shuaiba-3 would supply 194 million gallons of water daily as well as 900MW electricity. The first unit of Shuaiba-3 will begin production on Oct. 13, 2008.
He said the Supreme Economic Council, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, has approved four IWPPs (Shuaiba-3, Shuqaiq-2, Ras Al-Zour, and Jubail-3), adding that they would be carried out by the private sector on a build operate and transfer (BOT) basis.
The minister estimated the total cost of the four projects at SR30 billion. The private sector will contribute 60 percent of their cost while the state-owned Public Investment Fund (PIF) will have 32 percent stake and Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) 8 percent.
The combined production capacity of the four projects will reach 492 million gallons daily and 4,500MW. “These projects will boost the total desalination capacity of the Kingdom by 80 percent,” Al-Hussayen pointed out.
The IWPPs will meet the increasing demand for water and power in the Kingdom and compensate old desal plants which will be decommissioned in the near future. Water & Electricity Company (WEC) will sell 100 percent water produced by these plants to Saline Water Conversion Corp. (SWCC) and 100 percent of their power supply to Saudi Electricity Company.
Al-Hussayen said the Kingdom would require nearly SR350 billion in investment for water and sewage projects and SR340 billion for electricity projects during the next 20 years. He said the water and electricity sectors in the Kingdom were growing at the rate of seven percent.
Marafiq’s 1,060MW power generation, transmission and distribution system in Yanbu boasts nine 60MW gas turbine generators and four 130MW steam turbine generators. Power is transmitted through high-voltage 380kV and 115kV switchyards, and distributed via a 440-km network of ecologically sensitive underground cables within the Yanbu boundaries.
In a related development, the Saudi Electricity Company yesterday signed eight contracts worth SR1.64 billion with a number of national companies to supply electricity to remote areas, including the Kharees oilfield of Saudi Aramco, the Saudi Press Agency said. The Kingdom needs an additional six million cubic meters per day of water and a 30,000MW more power generation capacity over the next 20 years to cope with a growing population and urban development.
