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.
All these costly developments needs new power and related water plant construction, much of it under sophisticated private funding arrangements which are of great interest to overseas utilities and financiers. And for every single new job created in power generation in the Kingdom, in either public or private sectors, at least two workplaces are needed for installing and operating the power transmission and distribution systems, with all their ancillary supply industries and services.
This is where Saudi Elenex 2009 comes onto the scene, now in its 12 edition and being held concurrently from 24-27 May with closely related Saudi Aircon (including heating and refrigeration) and Saudi Luminex (lighting equipment) at the International Exhibition Centre in Riyadh. Organisers once again are UFIaccredited Riyadh Exhibitions Co Ltd, the Kingdom’s own member of the international Ifp Group. Augmented power As the infrastructure necessarily expands across such a vast area as yet unfulfilled demand for private-sector electricity products – primarily mains power itself, of course, but also costlier genset output in remote locations, distribution facilities including billing and revenue collection arrangements, and supply/servicing of nearly all types of electrical equipment, machinery and fittings – grows with it.
Industrial demand is expanding at least as fast as the Kingdom consolidates its position as the world’s leading source of hydrocarbon-derived products, primarily petrochems including polymers of course as well as unrelated bulk metals and fabricated items. The food processing and packaging industries are growing at nearly the same rate, many of them now serving both GCC and wider markets because the Kingdom enjoys economies of industrial scale that are not found in any other Arab country nearer than Lower Egypt. In aggregate electricity projects totalling US$100 billion or more are listed as demand for power has recently grown annually by six per cent or more – significantly more, if the supplies were available in the key urban areas – each year.
All that augmented power has got to be used productively somewhere and the control, end-user equipment and ancillaries markets are all growing at roughly the same rate, which is at least three times the current pace of expansion in the OECD countries where heavy-electrical companies have traditionally focused their marketing efforts. The nation’s key enterprise Saudi Aramco alone is reported to be planning to spend more than US$50 billion or more on 140-plus individual projects over the next five years, even in the straightened circumstances of this year’s disappointing first quarter.
Just a few months earlier the Finance Ministry had pencilled in a total spend of twice this for the wider energy industry over this uncertain period, already shifting rapidly to the development for local consumption of the nation’s enormous gas resources. And individual IOCs are routinely updating their plans for major industrial investments such as a brand-new worldscale refinery, ambitious plans which are all now benefiting from the easing of construction costs and an overdue ‘breathing space’ - but which are being adversely affected by the global credit crisis at the same time. Meanwhile region-affecting overhead transmission developments like the phased extension of the nascent Gulf Power Grid are proceeding as fast as present circumstances, including review of demand forecasts for the individual member territories, allow.
An HV power link with Egypt is reported to be still scheduled, one which will be able to make good use of the critical one-hour time difference that allows both countries to adopt traditional peak-lopping practices.
This year will be a particularly good one for international exhibitors to put in an appearance, the Saudi Elenex organisers believe, because so many new business opportunities elsewhere are being put on indefinite hold as key institutions like the World Bank, WTO and OECD separately forecast global economic shrinking for the calendar year as a whole – on a scale unseen in 60 years. By contrast the Gulf states as a resilient group of countries look as though they have good prospects of holding their own for as long as it takes. And within just a few years overseas demand for the KSA’s key product will easily be outstripping tomorrow’s feasible supply once more, especially in the Far East. With so many electrical products and services readily available therefore mid-2009 has come along as an ideal time for a really major energy producer like Saudi Arabia to consolidate its supply situation and advance in parallel the various infrastructure improvements, such as housing in the new Economic Cities like King Abdullah EC with their mixed manufacturing and training facilities, the essential 1,000-km core rail link between Riyadh and Jeddah, and the planned nationwide series of air- and, wherever possible, seaport expansions and improvements. Says an experienced REC spokesperson without exaggeration: “An array of investment opportunities in Saudi Arabia exists for electricity industry players from across the region and the world...with key decision makers attending Saudi Elenex on the lookout for lucrative investment deals in this growing market.” Saudi Elenex 2010 will be taking place from 23-26 May next year with the same two supporting events as listed above; special Recycling & Waste Management and Water Technology shows will be organised by REC to complement these on the same days.
For comprehensive details of the 12th International Electrical Engineering, Power Generation & Distribution Exhibition follow the links from www.recexpo.com or call the Saudi Elenex Project Manager Khalid Daou on +966 1 229 5604 ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) Featured products at Saudi Elenex
■Complete power stations
■Monitoring & control equipment
■Power plant equipment
■Portable engine-driven generators
■HV transmission equipment
■Electrical engineering services
■General electrical supplies
■Switches, other controls
■Cables, wiring, connections & attachments
■Distribution networks
■Transformers
■Diagnostic equipment
■Testing equipment
■Power protection hard- and software
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.
