SAUDI Electricity Company (SEC) has succeeded in realizing a number of technical and financial achievements during the first quarter of this year, with the ability of company experts and engineers to achieve a 16.6% increase in the power generation compared to the planned targets, as well as converting 17% of the diesel fuel generation units to use light fuel and implementing maintenance projects and programs at a number of plants without needing a help from foreign companies or local contracting companies, a technical report revealed. The report said that the company managed to improve efficiency of the generation units by the end of the first quarter of this year by 3% and by 35.6% during the first three months of this year compared to 34.5% during the same period of 2016. Meanwhile the technical staff were able to making 17% of the total diesel generation units to use the light fuel and therefor reducing diesel consumption by 31.8% compared to the first quarter of last year. It pointed out that the SEC›s strategy of relying on the company›s engineers and technicians to implement the technical projects and maintenance programs in many plants such Alqurayyah Combined Power Plant and Tabuk and Ghazlan Plant and other plants that have contributed to reducing assignment of these projects to foreign companies unless absolutely necessary. It also contributed to improving performance of generation units and saving the company millions of riyals at about 48 plants in all regions of the Kingdom, particularly that many of these plants are fully managed and operated by highly qualified national cadres, noting that the national cadres, including engineers and technicians represent around 85% of the staff of some plants such as Alqurayyah Combined Power Plant which is reckoned one of the most efficient plants worldwide. Executive Vice President for Generation Eng. Khalid bin Abdulrahman Al-Tuaimi said the company specialized technical teams, thanks to Allah, have managed to convert a number of generation units at Tabuk 2 Plant from using diesel to crude fuel without making the company bears operational and financial expenses in million riyals. The company engineers have also implemented a project for installing and operating a number of technical systems for mobile units of Rafha plant, in addition to making use of spare parts at the company›s warehouses, modifying them to conduct maintenance works for many plants such as Ghazlan Plant, without the need to import new and expensive parts. He added «the engineers and technicians at Alqurayyah Power Plant have managed to perfectly implement a number of precise maintenance programs that had been carried out by international companies, the matter that will save company a lot of money. These achievements came as an extension of the efficiency of the company staff and their capabilities to achieve a big stride in improving the performance of 691 generation units in all regions of the Kingdom, with varying techniques from steam, combined, gas and diesel, up to reaching the company generation capacity of 74.3 gigawatts by the end of last year, after improving the actual thermal efficiency of the generation plants, saving 14.6 million of equivalent fuel of crude oil at about SR 348 million, while saving 13.3 million barrel of diesel at SR 427 million in the same year". Eng. Al-Tuaimi further said the capabilities of the generation cadres are not only restricted to improving the operational efficiency and increasing productivity, but also managed to realize prominent achievements in the field of industrial security and safety, and no occurrence of any accidents during the first quarter of this year in light of strict implementation of the standards and procedures of the international safety program (Stars-5). In addition to the standards of environmental compatibility, pollution control, reviewing the company plan to know compliance of all units with environmental controls, identifying capital requirements and economic feasibility to achieve the highest environmental compliance for each plant. SEC has under construction electrical projects worth SR43 billion with the aim of delivering electric energy into all parts of the national economy in all regions of the Kingdom, as well as enhancing reliability of electric service to around 8.6 million subscribers who are expected to amount to 10.8 million by the end of 2021 at an annual increase of half a million subscribers.
