SHAIKH SALEH KAMEL, chairman of Al Baraka Banking Group, is set to launch the world's biggest Islamic bank before the end of the year, with an initial public offering of US$3 billion (Dh11 billion), a top official has said. Adnan Yousuf, CEO of Al Baraka Banking Group, who is also the chairman of the Union of Arab Banks, said: "We have already completed the necessary research for launching the Islamic bank and there are currently discussions between Shaikh Saleh Kamel and investors to prepare for the public offering."
"Under the current economic climate, Shaikh Saleh Kamel did not withdraw or pull back but, on the contrary, he is accelerating the finalisation process. The Islamic banking industry needs this investment at such times. "The studies for the project have taken about a year and a half." The 'mega bank' announced last year will have an initial capital of US$10 billion through a number of initial public offerings and private stock options. Yousuf added that the time is ripe to launch the bank, as Islamic banking is gaining in appeal.
He said he expects that several banks will follow the Islamic banking model in the coming years, due to the growth achieved by these banks. Despite the global economic crisis and its repercussions in the international financial sector, the Islamic banking industry has not witnessed a slowdown in its growth, he said. Instead, these banks continue to prosper.
Siemens Energy has secured a US$130mn order to supply gas turbine packages to Saudi Arabia. The components are to be installed in the Hail Extension II and Al Qurayat Expansion II power plants. The purchasers are the Alfanar Construction Company and Saudi Services for Electromechanic Works (SSEM) respectively and they will perform the project on a turnkey basis for the Saudi Electric Company (SEC) utility. Delivery of the components is scheduled for 2010 and 2011.
Power and automation technology group, ABB, has won an order worth US$89mn from the Saudi Electricity Company to build a new substation to ensure reliable power supplies for the King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh. The substation will be close to the financial centre and feed four smaller substations situated within the district. The project is expected to be completed in around 22 months.
Air blowers using internal compression instead of external compression can set a new standard for energy efficiency in the low-pressure market according to a new technical whitepaper from Atlas Copco’s oil-free air division. The whitepaper explains the differences between screw technology and the traditional ‘Roots’ type lobe technology and says that screw technology, which is used in Atlas Copco's ZS screw blowers, is on average 30 per cent more energy efficient. The manufacturer recently launched its full range of ZS screw blowers that are designed to improve energy efficiency for low-pressure applications and industries such as wastewater treatment and pneumatic conveying.
Plans for the zero-carbon Masdar City project are to be revised, with details of the amended master plan to be announced “imminently” according to Masdar's head of supply-chain management, Richard Reynolds. “We’ll finalise the revised Masdar plan fairly imminently, in the next two to three weeks,” Reynolds was quoted as saying by Bloomberg. “We’d only built part of it, so it made sense to stop and revisit.”
Saudi Arabia has taken the first step towards becoming energy efficient by holding its first ever public stakeholder meeting, the initial step in certifying an energy efficiency project under the rules of the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), in Jeddah recently.
Power generation equipment and services supplier, Alstom, has announced the strengthening of its renewables portfolio through a partnership with BrightSource Energy Inc. Alstom's move into the high-growth solar energy market comes in the form of an investment of up to US$55mn in BrightSource Energy Inc, with an equity stake that positions Alstom as one of the main shareholders in the company. 
A high level delegation representing the energy sector in Dubai has visited China to look at the latest global practices in the area of sustainable energy and the diversification of its sources. The delegation exchanged knowledge on the usage of conventional power plant technologies (using ultra super critical power plant-coal and synthetic gas) to generate electricity and produce desalinated water.
The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), a fund established by the government to aid the economic development of developing nations, has granted a loan to Bahrain worth US$50mn. The loan will be used to erect two electric transmission lines, of 220KV and 66KV each, to meet the increasing demand for electric power.
Abu Dhabi Transmission and Despatch (Transco) has placed an order with Siemens Energy to supply transformer substations and switchgear for the UAE power distribution network expansion project. The US$184mn order includes the turnkey supply of three 132/11 kV transformer substations and two 132/22 kV substations.
Power and automation technology group, ABB, has signed a service contract with the Gulf Cooperation Council Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) to provide maintenance for equipment and systems at the Gulf Interconnection Grid's newly constructed substations. The two-year contract is worth US$8.3mn and will aim to optimise the grid's reliability through regular maintenance and provide technical and emergency assistance when required.
Abu Dhabi is considering a proposal to use solar energy equipment on rooftops in the city to generate about 500MW of power, according to the executive director at the city's Executive Affairs Authority, David Scott.
Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable and alternative energy technologies and solutions initiative, has appointed the bidding consortium of Total and Abengoa Solar as a partner to own, build and operate Shams 1, the world’s largest concentrated solar power plant (CSP). One of Masdar’s flagship projects and the first plant of its kind in the Middle East, Shams 1 will directly contribute towards Abu Dhabi’s target of achieving 7 per cent renewable energy power generation capacity by the year 2020.
Oman has awarded France's GDF Suez a US$1.7 billion contract to build two power plants. A tender board official told Reuters, “GDF Suez has signed a 15-year contract with the government in a BOOT (build, own, operate and transfer) model for which the company will spend 700 million rials."
An executive from state oil company Saudi Aramco has said that renewable sources could account for up to 10 per cent of Saudi Arabia's power output by 2020 with prices coming down and a regulatory framework in place.
ABB, THE LEADING power and automation technology group, has won an order worth US$38mn from the Saudi Electricity Company, Saudi Arabia’s national power transmission and distribution utility, to improve the efficiency of 22 power distribution substations.
THE MIDDLE EAST has the opportunity to become a boom centre for solar energy in the next 10 years, according to AT Kearney.
THE INCANDESCENT LIGHT bulb is disappearing from stores. It has long been superseded by a new generation of light sources. In tomorrow’s multimedia society colour displays the size of an apartment will generate crystal-clear images, and entire sports stadiums will be lit by high-performance lamps.
Technical Review Middle East - Issue Three 2009 Power 60 IN THE PRESENT economic climate the fact that renewable energy can cut pollution levels may not be enough. As Phil Desmond discovers, some recent innovations in the field of cellular communications are being promoted not just as being better for the environment than conventional fuels but better for business too.
ARAMCO’S “FAIR” PRICE of US$75 a barrel has not yet been achieved but the giant Saudi economy is still surging ahead, prioritising the creation of new homes and diversified jobs in industry, social and other services to satisfy the needs of a 26mn young and wealthy population which grows at two per cent-plus every year. This means continued rapid progress on the development of the new Economic Cities, further and accelerated petrochemical and light industrial diversification, and the Middle East’s largest by far programme of dedicated passenger- and freightline rail construction. 
