The Saudi Electricity Company on Monday signed a contract with Consortium Alstom Power - a global leader in electricity equipment - and Saudi Archidown Ltd. for implementation of the third expansion phase of the Shu'aiba power generating station. Dr. Saleh Bin Hussein Al-Awaji, the company's Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors said this project comes within the company's plans to set up a number of power generating stations and transmission and distribution projects in the Kingdom's various parts aiming at enhancing the potentials of the power system in the Kingdom and meeting the growing demand for power. He said the project, which will start functioning in 2002, will add three steam generating units with a capacity of 1,191 Megawatts. These stations will meet the growing demand for electricity in the Eastern Province in general, the Grand Mosque, the Prophet's Mosque and the holy sites in particular as the new expansion will be integrated into the national grid. He pointed out the company started developing partnership with the private sector in the field of power production and accordingly it has offered three power generating projects to the private sector. The first project will be carried out in Rabigh in the Western Sector with a capacity of 1,200 Megawatts. The second project is for the establishment of a power generation station with a capacity of 2,000 Megawatts and a third and last project will be carried out in Al-Qaryah in the Eastern Province with a capacity of 2,000 Megawatts.
