Alstom completes Shoaiba III power plant ahead of schedule

Global power company Alstom has announced the successful completion of the handover of the 1.2 GW Shoaiba III steam power plant to the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), following timely completion of the project's final unit. Shoaiba III will be instrumental in helping Saudi Arabia meet the rising demands for electricity across the Kingdom as its economy expands through industrialization and urbanization.
Comprising three individual 400 MW blocks, the Shoaiba III plant began in September 2008 and has been built around Alstom's proven STF40 steam turbines and GIGATOP 2-pole turbogenerators. To meet stringent Saudi environmental regulations, it also utilizes Alstom's environmental control systems expertise. A seawater flue gas desulphurization (SWFGD) system drastically cuts emissions by using brine to strip sulphur oxides from the flue gas, while NOx-reducing tangential firing technology employed in the boilers mitigates nitrogen oxides — both helping make Shoaiba III a cleaner electricity provider. Finally, the latest ALSPA power control systems ensure efficient management of the plant, so that it can meet the varying demands placed on the grid in a region, which includes the Holy City of Makkah.
Located on the Red Sea coast 100 km south of Jeddah, Shoaiba III is part of the enormous Shoaiba facility, which now generates a total of 5,600 megawatts to the Saudi grid from its 14 units. Not just the largest power plant in the Kingdom but also the biggest in the whole region, Shoaiba has become known as 'the Giant of the Middle East.' It follows 13 years of well-coordinated hard work between top teams from Alstom and SEC, cementing the close relationship between the two organizations and demonstrating the high standards that can be achieved with the full support of both companies' senior managements.