Siemens to power Saudi economic city

Siemens has won the contract to develop the power grid for Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), the biggest of the three business and residential hubs currently under development in the Kingdom.

The city’s developer Emaar Economic City (Emaar EC) said on Sunday it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the German conglomerate for setting up a 110/380KV power generation grid within KAEC.

“The MoU with Siemens signals our commitment to provide KAEC with the latest in technology. We wanted to partner with a company that has a long history and extensive expertise in the sector,” Dr Abdulraouf Mannaa, managing director of Emaar EC, said in a statement.

The project will be carried out in two phases. The first part will be completed by the end of 2008, while the second part is scheduled to begin in September next year and be completed in June 2010.

Phase one includes three main power stations of 110KV, and phase two includes four main power stations of 380KV.

The power grid will serve the first phase of the industrial zone, residential area, golf course and the seaport.

No financial details of the agreement were released.

KAEC has six key components: a seaport, industrial zone, central business district, resort district, educational zone and residential communities.