Time of glory for Rabigh IPP project team

The Rabigh IPP project team has come under praise for meeting the project timeline and schedules.
It will supply Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) with 1,204 MW of electricity for 20 years.
During a recent celebration, Rabigh Electricity Company announced it had achieved the Project Commercial Operation Date (PCOD).
The project team and board members including Chairman Mohammad Abunayyan attended the event.
The chairman praised the team for their achievements.
Top company executives Abdulaziz Al-Mahdi and Hesham Al-Ghamdi expressed pride over the achievement after the project completed all required tests under the supervision of SEC in coordination with Fawzi Al-Saidi, project technical manager.
Mohammad Abunayyan, chairman of Rabigh Electricity Company, said: “The PCOD would not have been achieved without the diligence of SEC and the continuous follow-up of their experts and the board of directors."
"We would like to thank everyone at SEC, especially Ali S. Al-Barrak, president and CEO, the IPP team headed by Amer Al-Swahah. Their continuos support, follow-up and diligence contributed immensely to the success of the project in reaching PCOD."
Rabigh IPP is the flagship project launched by Saudi Electric Company (SEC) in 2009 structured on a concession or utility outsourcing contract model financed using a limited recourse, project finance framework.
The deal was signed in July of 2009 with a 20-year purchase agreement for full production.
Nearly 40 companies and alliances competed for this project.
It was awarded to the consortium of ACWA Power International and the Korean Electric Power Company (KEPCO). They hold 80 percent of the project's share and SEC owns 20 percent.
The winning consortium had selected a joint venture of Dongfang Electric Corporation Limited and SEPCO III, both from China as the EPC contractor for the project.
The project consists of a 1,204 MW Net Heavy Fuel Oil fired power plant together with all support facilities such as cooling water intake and discharge structures, fuel unloading jetty and oil storage facilities and Gas Insulated Switchgear.
The project is fully compliant with Saudi Arabian Presidency for Meteorology & Environment and World Bank environmental standards.
In 2010, Rabigh IPP was named the 2009 Middle East Power deal of the Year by Project Finance International (PFI), a Thomson Reuters publication and by Euromoney.
It is the first IPP/IWPP in the GCC to be undertaken without a government guarantee.