ABB has won orders worth more than US$250mn from the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) to construct new substations and reinforce existing ones, to help address the growing demand for electricity.
Eastern region
One of the new gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) substations will be located south-west of Al-Hassa in the eastern region. It will facilitate the transmission of an additional 2,000 MW of electricity from a new gas-fired power plant being built by an independent power producer adjacent to SEC's existing Qurayyah power station.
Central region
Six other new distribution substations and the three to be upgraded will be located in the capital Riyadh and other cities in the central region.
To meet growing need
"The substations will enhance transmission and distribution capacity to help meet the growing need for electricity," said Peter Leupp, head of ABB's Power Systems division.
"They will also help enhance reliability and improve the efficiency of the regional grid." The orders were booked in the fourth quarter of 2011.
Range of solutions
ABB will design, supply, install and commission the new substations including the supply of key equipment such as GIS, transformers, shunt reactors and capacitor banks.
ABB will also deliver a range of solutions including SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) as well as automation, control, protection and communication equipment compliant with the global IEC 61850 standard.
This will enable remote monitoring and control of power assets located at multiple sites from SEC's power control center.
