OREANDA-NEWS.  February 19, 2014. The construction of three new cogeneration facilities in the Kingdom makes a significant step forward as financial closure is completed.

The multisite project will have a capacity of 876 megawatts of power and 3.26 million pounds per hour of steam. The project is being developed pursuant to contracts between Saudi Aramco and the Power Cogeneration Plant Company (PCPC), a special purpose vehicle owned 50 percent by a Saudi Aramco affiliate and 50 percent by a consortium comprised of Marubeni Corporation, JGC and Al Jomaih Co.

“The expansion of Saudi Aramco’s cogeneration fleet will benefit both Saudi Aramco and its needs for reliable steam and electricity at its Abqaiq, Hawiyah and Ras Tanura plants as well as the Kingdom and its growing power needs” says Abdallah B. Al-Thaaly, director for the Structuring and Venturing Department at New Business Development of Saudi Aramco.

Cogeneration facilities are more efficient and more environmentally friendly than traditional power plants as they use exhaust heat for industrial thermal processes or added incremental power generation.

The new facilities will achieve overall efficiency of 80 percent as compared to traditional power plants, which achieve 45 to 50 percent efficiency.

Engineering, procurement and construction will be carried out by Samsung Engineering Construction Ltd., and General Electric will supply the gas turbines. Construction at all three sites is expected to start shortly and commercial operation for all three facilities is expected by June 2016.