King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) has announced the completion of its connection to the national electricity grid. The connection was completed by the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), which established a substation to meet current and future demand in KAEC.

The substation is designed to handle energy from high voltage overhead cables with a power of 110/380 kilovolts and an absorption capacity reaching 500 megavolts.

The connection enables KAEC to meet growing demand for electricity from the increasing commercial and residential activity in the city.

The Industrial Valley alone has 20 companies in operation and another 40 under construction — almost double the level of activity six months ago.

“Connecting KAEC to the national electricity grid is an important milestone in our journey, and enhances our ability to provide our customers with an advanced, comprehensive level of infrastructure,” said Fahd Al-Rasheed, MD and group CEO, KAEC.

“As the city continues to grow, we are confident that we can maintain our commitment to provide our residential, commercial and manufacturing customers with high-performance electrical services at competitive prices to suit every level of demand.”

Abd Al-Maeen Al-Shaikh, SEC’s western sector executive director, said that this significant project is in line with the company’s ambition to generate, transmit and distribute electricity for every home and facility in the Kingdom, as the leading producer and sole distributor of electricity in the country targeting all consumer segments.

Al-Shaikh stressed that the electrical connection is the ideal solution to reduce the spare capacity in each network, consequently lowering the capital investment required to meet the growing demand for energy.

He added: “The SEC is an active contributor and supporter of manufacturing and development projects serving the Saudi economy in the long run, the most notable of which is the provision of energy to new economic cities.”