May 21 2010
Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has given a contract of around $300 million to GE for supplying five steam turbines to the former’s Qurayyah Open Cycle Power Plant located in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.
Already, 15 GE F-technology gas turbines are in operation at the plant. These turbines will help convert the facility to combined-cycle operation.
On completion of the power plant conversion, which is likely to be by Q2 of 2012, the plant’s energy output will increase to 3,148 MW from the present 1,907 MW. This increase in output will assist meet the increasing residential and industrial power requirements in the central and eastern regions of Saudi Arabia.
On completion, the Qurayyah Open Cycle Power Plant will comprise five GE 307FA combined-cycle packages with each featuring one GE D Series steam turbine and three Frame 7FA gas turbines. Doosan Heavy Industries and Arabian Bemco Contracting Company have secured the engineering and procurement company (EPC) agreement for the expansion of this plant.
With its quickly growing economic development and population, the demand for electricity in Saudi Arabia has been increasing at around 8% annually. The Industry and Electricity Ministry of Saudi Arabia predicts that the nation will need around 20 GW of surplus power-generating capacity by the year 2019.
Source: http://www.ge.com/