Exclusive: SWCC clarifies megaproject details

SWCC has explained how the breakdown of power and desal capacities at the two megaprojects will work.

Saudi Arabia’s Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) has released further details about its Ras Al Zour and Yanbu megaprojects. The state desalination agency was handed responsibility for the two sites in September after the Saudi government stepped in to pull the former IWPPs earlier this year.

“The capacity for Ras Al Zour is 2,400MW and 1,025,000 cubic metres of desalinated water, which covers the needs of SWCC (1,000,000 cubic metres) and Maaden (25,000 cubic metres,” SWCC governor Fehied Al-Shareef told utilities-me.com. “On the power side, 1,350MW is for Maaden, with 1,050MW for Saudi Electricity Company (SEC).”

Fichtner is the consulting engineer for the Ras Al Zour project, which is expected to cost around 20-25% less than initial US $6 billion estimates. 

Al-Shareef confirmed that documents are expected to be submitted to bidders by mid-November, with offers earmarked for submission by the end of the first half of 2010.

The SWCC governor says that the former Yanbu IWPP will now have a 1,700MW capacity (650MW for Marafiq Yanbu and 1,050 for SWCC) and 550,000 cubic metres of desalinated water (400,000 cubic metres for SWCC and 150,000 for Marafiq Yanbu).

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