DOHA: Qatar General Water & Electricity Corporation (Kahramaa), has placed an order worth ¤600m with Siemens Energy for the supply of equipment to expand the high-voltage grid here. As part of the national project to expand the power distribution network in Qatar, Siemens was awarded a contract named Phase IX.
Siemens will supply substations and switchgear valued at ¤510m as well as associated cables valued at ¤90m to Kahramaa, which is in charge of generating and distributing electricity in Qatar.
"We're proud that Kahramaa has again opted for field-proven, first-class equipment from Siemens for the expansion of Qatar's grid. Expansion of the country's power supply system is a demanding project, for which practically the whole range of our products and systems will be deployed," said Dr Udo Niehage, CEO of the Power Transmission Division, Siemens Energy.
One of the challenges involved in Qatar's grid project is maintaining power supply while work is being performed on the existing infrastructure. Several substations also have to be erected in parallel with a short space of time. The order encompasses the supply of 15 turnkey substations for the 400kV, 220kV, 132kV, 66kV and 11kV voltage levels, including transformers, control and protection equipment, as well as extension and modification of existing substations.
The construction of a new 400kV substation to connect the Qatar network to the GCC grid is included in the work. Siemens will supply gas-insulated switchgear, protection equipment and equipment for online condition monitoring. The substations will be distributed across the whole country, including the cities of Doha, Dukhan and Masaieed. Furthermore 400km of 66kV and 132kV high-voltage cables are part of the order.
Completion is scheduled for mid-2012.
Siemens will execute the order as part of the ongoing Qatar Power Transmission System Expansion - Phase IX, for which Siemens has over the last five years installed more than 70 switchgears and approximately 1,400km of high-voltage cable.
Siemens has completed all projects to date totalling ¤1.6bn within the defined schedule. In 2006 Siemens received the most recent major order from Kahramaa worth ¤700m (Phase VII).
© The Peninsula 2010
