Alstom has completed the final unit of the 1.2 GW Shoaiba III steam power plant early and has handed it over to the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC)
Work on the Shoaiba III project began in September 2008 and the plant has three individual 400 MW blocks built around Alstom's proven STF40 steam turbines and GIGATOP 2-pole turbogenerators.
Commenting on the early completion of the project,?Alstom steam business senior vice president Andreas Lusch said, "This success is the result of the strong execution capabilities of Alstom, the proactive coordination of all Alstom manufacturing sites, as well as third party suppliers around the world, all of whom contributed to this excellent achievement."
The third plant is part of the giant Shoaiba facility and is located on the Red Sea coast 100km south of Jeddah. It generates a total of 5,600 MW of output to Saudi Arabia?s grid from its fourteen units, making it not only the largest power plant in the Kingdom, but also the biggest in the region, Alstom said in a statement.
The plant uses the latest ALSPA power control systems to ensure efficient management of the plant so that it can meet the varying demands placed on the grid in a region.
Importantly, Shoaiba III will be a cleaner electricity provider as it will use Alstom's environmental control systems. The company's seawater flue gas desulphurisation (SWFGD) system helps cuts emissions by using brine to strip sulphur oxides from the flue gas, while NOx-reducing tangential firing technology has been employed in the boilers to mitigate nitrogen oxides.
The Alstom-led consortium, with support from local contractor Saudi Archirodon, executed the three-stage Shoaiba project over 13 years on a turnkey basis, with the Alstrom designing, supplying, installing and commissioning all aspects of the complex.?
SEC?CEO Ali Saleh Al-Barrak has said he believes?Shoaiba III?will be instrumental in helping Saudi Arabia meet rising demands for electricity and crucial for?the development of the Kingdom's economy.
