A consortium led by German engineering conglomerate Siemens has received a $2.14 billion order to build a power and desalination plant in Saudi Arabia. Siemens’ share of the order is about $1.3 billion, said a Siemens spokesman.

The consortium, which also includes South Korea’s Doosan Heavy Industries, will build the facility for the Shuaiba Water and Electricity Company, Riyadh. “Shuaiba is the largest single order that Siemens has posted to date for the Gulf region,” Klaus Voges of Siemens Power Generation, said.
Siemens will be supplying three steam turbine-generator units rated at 400 MW each, along with electrical and instrumentation and control systems. The plant will supply 900 MW to the national grid once the three units are commissioned in 2009, Siemens said.
The desalination plant supplied by Doosan will provide about 880,000 cu m per day of fresh water for the cities of Makkah, Jeddah, Taif and Al Baha, Siemens added.