Alstom wins transmission contract in Saudi Arabia

French company will supply AC transmission systems for western province installations

France’s Alstom has been awarded a EUR47m ($58.7m) contract to supply AC transmission systems for electrical installations in the western province of Saudi Arabia.

Alstom will supply static var compensator (SVC) for a Jeddah substation and two capacitor banks for the Wadi Jaleel substation in Mecca, located 200km from Jeddah city.

The project is scheduled for completion in 2016.

The contract is the latest of a number of ventures that Alstom is undertaking in Saudi Arabia’s power sector.

In December 2013, Alstom announced that it was forming a joint venture company with the local Arabian Bemco, Alstom Arabia Power Factory, to establish a power generation manufacturing plant in the kingdom.

The initial investment in the operation will be more than SR200m ($53.3m), and the manufacturing facility will be located in the King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) in Jeddah.

The two companies are working together on the Riyadh PP12 plant, for which the contract was awarded in 2012.

The 2,175MW PP12 plant will be located at a site located 100 kilometres west of Riyadh city and adjacent to the PP11 combined-cycle power plant, which is also currently under construction and will include the construction of a 380kV substation. It is to be completed by 2015.