SIEMENS has secured a $1-billion order for a combined cycle power plant (CCPP) project in Saudi Arabia.

The company will supply key components for the IPP Qurayyah combined cycle power plant which, with an installed capacity of 4 GW, will be one of the world’s largest CCPPs. It will supply electrical energy sufficient to meet approximately one-tenth of the country’s current power demand for its 28 million people.

Commissioning of the total of six blocks is scheduled for 2014.

The project consortium is led by the Saudi company ACWA Power with Samsung C&T and Mena fund as additional members. Siemens received the order from Samsung C&T, which also acts as the engineering procurement and construction (EPC) contractor. In addition, a long-term service and maintenance agreement for the power plant was signed with Hajr Project Company (owned by SEC, ACWA and Samsung C&T).

The plant will be operated by Hajr as an independent power producer (IPP).

“For the Qurayyah power plant we’re supplying advanced combined cycle equipment from our global manufacturing network,” said Roland Fischer, CEO of the fossil power generation division of Siemens Energy.

Siemens’ scope of supply encompasses a total of 12 SGT6-5000F gas turbines, 18 generators of the SGEN6-1000A series and six SST6-4000 steam turbines together with the associated electrical systems.

Siemens Energy will also provide the long-term maintenance for the major equipment in the IPP Qurayyah power plant.
Qurayyah will be the sixth large-scale power plant built by Siemens in Saudi Arabia. It follows a recent contract to supply key components for the 2,400-MW Ras Al Khair (formerly called Ras Az Zawr) combined cycle plant – an order which was also worth more than $1 billion. The earlier projects included Shuaibah IWPP, Jeddah III, Ghazlan and Al Khobar projects. The company will also supply four gas turbines to Saudi Arabia for the Hail Extension II and Al Qurayat Expansion II projects.

Last year, Siemens announced plans to invest several hundred million dollars to build a production and service centre for gas turbines in the Eastern Province.