Tuesday, Nov 01, 2011
(This story was originally published Monday)
RIYADH (Zawya Dow Jones)--Saudi Electricity Co. (5110.SA), or SEC, the largest-listed utility in the Gulf, said Monday it signed three contracts valued at 1.18 billion Saudi riyals ($316.53 million) with unspecified firms to build two electricity substations to meet rising demand in the eastern province and in the holy city of Mecca.
The first substation in Dammam will be completed in 28 months, while the other in the Taif area will be built in 30 months, SEC said in a statement.
The deals follow a SAR4.6 billion deal signed Saturday to build Shoaiba power plant in the south of Jeddah on the Red Sea.
The combined-cycle plant will have a capacity of 1,238 megawatts and will help meet the needs of the industrial sector in Jeddah. The project will take 35 months to be completed, said SEC, whose major shareholder is the Saudi government.
Saudi Arabia, which is struggling to supply uninterrupted electricity during a population boom and industrial expansion, expects SEC to invest $80 billion over the next 10 years to add 30,000 megawatts of power generation capacity.
Saudi Electricity earlier this month said it launched the kingdom's first power station using solar energy at the southern Red Sea coast. The construction of the power plant located at Farasan Island in the Jizan province was funded by Japanese firm Showa Shell which has carried out the installation of all the fixtures, equipment and photovoltaic panels.
It also signed a SAR5.4 billion contract with an unnamed local firm to boost power generation at its tenth station in the capital Riyadh. The deal will boost the station's power generation by 1200 megawatts.
-By Summer Said, Dow Jones Newswires; +966-546-842373; summer.said@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-11-11 0343GMT
