German giant Siemens Energy group has made significant inroads into the power generation, transmission and distribution sector of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region and is today one of the leading players in the regional power industry. Siemens Power Generation alone has supplied more than 300 gas and steam turbines to power plants in the Gulf region. The installed capacity of these plants is estimated at 30,000 megawatts, according to company officials.
Early last year, the group announced that it has won a contract with Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) worth €140 million to supply high voltage 145 kilovolt switchgear for Unit K Jebel Ali Power Plant complex, in Dubai.
In December, the group announced Siemens' biggest ever order in the region, with the signing of the one billion Euro contract with Shuweihat CMS International Power Company (SCIPCO), for the turnkey construction of the 1,500-megawatt combined-cycle power plant at Shuweihat. SCIPCO is majority owned by the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA), in conjunction with CMS International and International Power.
Unit K of the Jebel Ali power plant will have a capacity of 850 megawatts and is expected to come on line in mid-2002. Siemens' €140 million order for this unit included the supply of three gas turbines, two steam turbines, five generators and the electrical, instrumentation and control equipment.
In Shuweihat, Siemens as a consortium leader, together with the Italian company Fisia, is to build a 1,500-megawatt combined-cycle power plant in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and is scheduled to come on line in 2005. The Shuweihat power plant complex, 250 kilometers west of Abu Dhabi, is to be expanded in the long term into a power plant park with a total electrical capacity of around 5,000 megawatts. The contract awarded to Siemens constitutes the first phase of this project.
Current turnkey projects in the Gulf for the Siemens Power Transmission and Distribution unit consist fifteen substations with more than 150 bays, from 145 kilovolts up to 420 kilovolts, mainly in the UAE.
Besides power generation, the production of drinking water is a key issue for the region. A water desalination facility is thus connected to each power plant. After completion, more than 450 million liters of drinking water will be produced daily in Shuweihat, while Unit K in Jebel Ali will have a daily production capacity of 530 million liters of desalinated water. The Siemens contracts on both include a long-term maintenance agreement.
Since the autumn of 2001, the Al-Taweelah A2 combined cycle power plant has been feeding around 710 megawatts into Abu Dhabi's power grid and supplying some 230 million liters of drinking water daily. The combined–cycle plant was built as a turnkey project by Siemens as consortium leader and the Korean company Doosan (Hanjung).
For this plant Siemens Power Generation supplied the V94.3A gas turbines, two steam turbines, the entire electrical, instrumentation, control equipment and the seawater desalination plant. The combined cycle plant is operated by CMS Power and is the first Independent Power Producer (IPP) in the Emirates.
Siemens is an international conglomerate encompassing more than 480,000 people in 190 countries. The Power area comprises two Groups: Power Generation and Power Transmission and Distribution. Power Generation offers. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
