US energy equipment giant GE has signed agreements worth approximately $700mn to ...

US energy equipment giant GE has signed agreements worth approximately $700mn to supply power generation equipment and long-term services for a new gas-fired power plant that will help Saudi Arabia meet a growing need for residential and industrial power. The new power plant, Riyadh PP11, will comprise 15% of the power generation capacity in Saudi Arabia’s central region. According to Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), the country’s demand for reliable electricity is increasing at a rate of 8% per year. The new project, Riyadh PP11 to be located at Dhuruma, about 80 km west of Riyadh, will add 1,730MWof power to SEC’s grid. Saudi Arabia, which has an installed capacity of 44 GW, is expected to need about 70 GW of generating capacity by the year 2020. Meanwhile, power generation equipment and services company Alstom has been selected by Keppel Merlimau Cogen (KMC) to build and maintain a new 800MW power plant in Singapore. KMC is a unit of Keppel Energy, the energy division of Singapore-based Keppel Corporation. The €320mn order for the first phase of the project includes an engineering, procurement and construction contract for a 400 MWgas-fired combined cycle unit as well as an 18-year maintenance contract. The second phase, which would also include a 400 MWcombined cycle unit, should be booked in 2011. Under the terms of the contract, Alstom will provide the entire power plant and all associated equipment, including one GT26 gas turbine, one steam turbine and one heat recovery steam generator for each unit. Also in Singapore, Alstom has won an order worth €260mn to construct a new power plant for Tuas Power Generation (TPG), itself owned by Huaneng Power International which already operates four combined cycle power plants and two oil fired steam power plants. The order includes an engineering, procurement and construction contract for a new 400 MW gas-fired combined cycle power plant CCP5, as well as a six-year maintenance contract. In India, Reliance Power has selected GE’s power generation technology for a 2,400 MW expansion of the Sama Ikot power plant in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The project will represent the largest gas turbine combined cycle project in India’s history. Under contracts worth $750mn, GE will supply six Frame 9FA gas turbines, three D- 11 steam turbines, training and long-term services for the project. In a combined cycle configuration, exhaust gas from a gas turbine generator is converted to steam, which is used to drive a steam turbine generator. The new plant is expected to enter simple cycle (gas turbines only) service in the first half of 2012, and combined cycle in the second half of that year. India is the sixth largest energy consumer in the world. The country’s demand for natural gas has been growing at a rate of 6.5% for the last 10 years and that pace is expected to continue or even to increase. Finally, Alstom has signed a contract worth over €20mn with the Ministry of Electricity in Iraq for the rehabilitation of Najaf power station. The company will carry out a fast-track rehabilitation at unit 1 of the power station, based at the holy city of Najaf, 160 km south of Baghdad. Built by Alstom in 1977, Najaf is a gas-fired power plant consisting of three GT13D gas turbines and with an overall output of 180 MW. The unit was damaged and has been out of operation for five years. The rehabilitated unit should be reconnected to the Iraqi electricity network in time for next summer.