King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) has announced the completion of its connection to the national electricity grid. The connection was completed by the Saudi Electricity Company, which established a substation to meet current and future demand in KAEC. The substation is designed to handle energy from high voltage overhead cables with a power of 110/380 kilovolts and an absorption capacity reaching 500 megavolts. The connection enables KAEC to meet growing demand for electricity from the increasing commercial and residential activity in the city. The Industrial Valley alone has twenty companies in operation and another forty under construction: almost double the level of activity six months ago. "Connecting KAEC to the national electricity grid is an important milestone in our journey, and enhances our ability to provide our customers with an advanced, comprehensive level of infrastructure," said Mr. Fahd Al-Rasheed, Managing Director and Group CEO of King Abdullah Economic City. "As the city continues to grow, we are confident that we can maintain our commitment to provide our residential, commercial and manufacturing customers with high-performance electrical services at competitive prices to suit every level of demand." Abd AlMaeen Al Shaikh, Western Sector Executive Director of Saudi Electricity Company, said this significant project is in line with the company's ambition to generate, transmit and distribute electricity for every home and facility in the Kingdom, as the leading producer and sole distributor of electricity in the country targeting all consumer segments. Al Shaikh stressed that the electrical connection is the ideal solution to reduce the spare capacity in each network, consequently lowering the capital investment required to meet the growing demand for energy. He added, "The Saudi Electricity Company is an active contributor and supporter of manufacturing and development projects serving the Saudi economy in the long run, the most notable of which is the provision of energy to new economic cities, which is based on the continual governmental support of projects that support our country's sustainable growth." Prior to the connection to the national grid, King Abdullah Economic City used a network of electric generators distributed across the city to meet its power needs. Anticipating increasing demand for electric power from different industries as the city expanded, KAEC signed a SAR 350 million agreement with the Saudi Electricity Company in August 2012 to increase the capacity of the high voltage station to 500 megavolts/ampere and to build a new 110/13.8 kilovolt medium voltage transfer station within the Industrial Valley with a capacity of 134 megavolts/ampere. The agreement includes the towers to transfer power between the high and medium voltage stations. KAEC Industrial Valley will be the first beneficiary, as all industrial plants and utilities will be transitioned from existing generators to the national power grid in the first and second phases of rollout. By the end of July 2016 the Al Shorouq residential community will also be connected to the national power supply, followed by the remaining areas and neighborhoods of King Abdullah Economic City.
