General Electric has signed a nearly $700 million contract with Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) to bring additional F-class combined cycle gas turbines, and associated equipment and services to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. GE's technology will support SEC's large, combined cycle power plants to generate more than 3.8 gigawatts (GW) of power and will provide significant fuel savings and lower emissions to meet today's growing energy needs of the Kingdom. "We chose GE once again for our largest project because of their advanced technology which features proven efficiency performance," said Mr. Ali Albarrak, president and CEO of SEC. "In addition, GE technology has the ability to respond to dramatic daily changes in power demand while maintaining high levels of fuel efficiency in line with the growing power resource needs of our country." GE's technology previously has been chosen for SEC's PP9, PP10, PP11 and PP12 power plants. PP13 and PP14 will feature 12 GE 7F-5 gas turbines, four GE steam turbines and 16 generators, and are a further expansion of GE's 7F-5 gas turbine technology used in the PP12 project in the country. PP13 will be located next to PP11 and PP12 at Dhurma, and PP14 will be located next to PP10, south of Riyadh. The contract also includes two contractual service agreements, one for each site, covering planned maintenance on the units for a fixed period of eight years. GE is dedicated to providing innovative products, technology and services to produce reliable power to support the Kingdom's growing energy needs," said Mohammed Mohaisen, CEO—Power Generation Products & Services Sales for GE Power & Water in the Middle East. "Our proven F-class technology provides cost effective, fuel efficient and flexible power generation." Today, GE equipment assists in the generation of over half of Saudi Arabia's power supply, with more than 500 gas turbines installed in the Kingdom. The company operates in approximately 40 SEC power plants – an alliance that spans over four decades. Shipment of GE's equipment is expected to begin at the beginning of 2015. The 7F-5 gas turbines will be manufactured at GE's Greenville, S.C. facility, with the steam turbines and generators coming from GE's Schenectady, N.Y. site.
