French engineering group Alstom on Thursday said it had won a 1.9-billion-euro ($3 billion) contract to build a plant in Saudi Arabia. Delivery of major equipment is set for 2010, it said. Alstom said it signed a letter of intent with the Saudi Electricity Company for the contract to build a new 1,200 MW steam power plant in the Kingdom. In a statement, Alstom said the contract will be finalized in the coming months and was won in conjunction with consortium partner Saudi Archirodon. Alstom did not say what each company's share of the order will be. The new plant is to be built alongside the existing Shoaiba power station, 100 km south of Jeddah. Under the contract, Alstom will design, supply, install and commission the entire plant, including boilers and STF40 steam turbines and Saudi Archirodon will carry out associated civil works. The boilers are designed to burn both crude and heavy fuel oil. Following the project, the Shoaiba power plant will comprise 14 units of 400 MW each, bringing the total output to 5,600 MW. The agreement, signed on June 28, 2008, marks the third stage of the Shoaiba project. The previous 11 units were supplied by an Alstom-led consortium on a turnkey basis under two separate contracts won in November 1998 and January 2004 respectively. Under this contract, Alstom will design, supply, install and commission the entire plant, including boilers, STF40 steam turbines, Gigatop 2-pole turbogenerators, sea-water flue gas desulphurization systems for removal of SO2 and the complete balance of plant and systems for the three units. Alstom's consortium partner, Saudi Archirodon, will carry out all the associated civil works. The boilers are designed to burn both crude and heavy fuel oil and will use Alstom's advanced low NOx tangential firing technology. Electric power demand in Saudi Arabia is growing at around 7 percent each year, requiring massive investment in the country's power generation capacity. Philippe Joubert, Alstom executive vice president and president, Power Systems, said: “With this new Shoaiba contract, Saudi Electricity Company proves its ongoing trust in Alstom and recognition of Alstom's competence and expertise as a reliable provider of integrated power solutions.”
