ABB to supply power products for Saudi desal plant

ABB, a leading power and automation technology group, has won an order to design and deliver 420 kilovolt (kV) high voltage gas insulated switchgear (GIS) that will facilitate the supply of power to a new desalination faclity and support the grid integration of a new 2.5 gigawatts (GW) power generation plant.
These new facilities are being developed by the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), the country’s government agency responsible for desalinating sea water and the second largest electric power producer in the country.
The order was received from the Al-Fanar Group, a leading engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company.
The desalination plant, which is scheduled to be commissioned in June 2014, is located in Yanbu Industrial City.
The plant will have a capacity to produce 550,000 cubic meters of desalinated water per day.
Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest producer of desalinated water and SWCC operates 27 desalination stations producing more than three million cubic meters a day of potable water.
“These new plants where ABB’s highly reliable GIS equipment is being installed, will help address the country’s increasing need for potable water and also support the growing demand for electricity,” said Giandomenico Rivetti, head of ABB’s High Voltage products business, a part of the company’s Power Products division.
In line with its business philosophy to locate production and service facilities closer to customers, ABB recently announced a $40 million investment for the construction of a new manufacturing plant for high-voltage GIS and establish a transformer service workshop in Saudi Arabia.
High-voltage GIS facilitates switching operations and helps protect electrical grids and associated equipment.
This requires the capability to handle large amounts of electrical energy at high current and voltage levels, while ensuring grid safety and reliability.