GE will supply five steam turbines to support an expansion of the Saudi Electricity Company’s (SEC) Qurayyah Open Cycle Power Plant.
The $300m contract will add 307FA combined-cycle systems each featuring three Frame 7FA gas turbines and one GE D Series steam turbine.
The new turbines will add to the 15 existing GE F-technology gas turbines to convert the plant to combined-cycle operation.
Following the conversion, due to be complete in second quarter of 2012, the plant capacity will increase to 3,148MW from 1,907MW.
With the upgrade, the plant will be able to meet the growing industrial and residential power demand in the Saudi Arabia’s eastern and central regions.
In a combined-cycle configuration, exhaust gas from a gas turbine-generator is converted to steam, to drive a steam turbine-generator allowing additional power production without increase in fuel consumption.
Saudi Arabia’s Industry and Electricity Ministry estimates that the Kingdom will require up to 20GW of additional power-generating capacity by 2019.
