RIYADH: The Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) signed on Tuesday a SR6.9 billion contract to increase the output of electricity generated in the Kingdom.
The contract for “The Conversion of the Open Cycle Gas Turbines to Combined Cycle Power Plant at Qurayat Power Plant” was signed between the SEC and a consortium made up of Saudi company Arabian Bemco Contracting Co. Ltd. and Korean company Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co. Ltd. at the SEC office here.
The multibillion agreement was signed by Saleh H. Al-Awaji, deputy minister of electricity and vice chairman of SEC, Samaul Al-Baksh, chairman of Bemco, and Dong Soo Suh, executive vice president of Doosan.
Al-Awaji said after the signing ceremony that out of three bidders, the consortium submitted the lowest bid of $1,835,460,000. The project is to become operational before June 2014 and is expected to add 1,241 MW to the Qurayat plant, the largest utility in the Gulf by market value.
Emad Ghandourah, director of projects development at Arabian Bemco, said that the conversion of open cycle gas turbines into combined-cycle ones at Qurayat Power Plant, Stage-C, is an extension of the current Qurayat Power Plant project by adding five steam turbines and 15 heat recovery steam generators with auxiliary equipment and a balance of plant systems to form a five power block combined-cycle power plant.
“This strategic project will add 1,300 MW to the national grid of Saudi Arabia, where the first phase will be completed by early summer 2014 and the total project at the beginning of 2015 on a very tight schedule basis. The combined-cycle extension will boost up the Qurayat Power Plant capacity to 3,200 MW,” he added.
Arabian Bemco is a leading contractor for power and industrial projects in the region, and has executed over 16,000 MW of power generation projects and numerous industrial projects.
