Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has awarded contracts worth a combined SR11.96bn ($3.19bn) to South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for construction of an oil-fired power plant near Jiddah. The 2.65gw capacity Jiddah South power plant will be built by Hyundai and based around Mitsubishi generating sets. The project is expected to be completed in 2015. The generating sets will be the first in Saudi Arabia to incorporate supercritical boilers, which enable operating efficiencies of 40%.
The plant will normally run on heavy fuel oil (HFO), but will have the option to burn Arabian Heavy crude. The plant design was selected for its efficiency. Although HFO is readily available in Saudi Arabia, the government is seeking to manage domestic fuel consumption – oil and gas consumption by SEC for power generation rose by 75% during 2000-09 to almost 1.1mn b/d of oil equivalent – in a bid to improve crude oil and gas monetization (MEES, 21 September). (CONTINUED - 433 WORDS)
