Gearing up

Gas-insulated switchgear is favoured in the region due to its ability to withstand extreme temperatures and adverse conditions.

Switchgear suppliers are upbeat about business past and present, and are looking to adjust their products to meet the demands of a smarter grid.

Manufacturers of switchgear, an important component of substations, have been richly rewarded by the GCC’s drive to expand their transmission and distribution (T&D) capacities within their boundaries and across the region.

The most ambitious expression of this drive is the GCC Interconnection Grid, which will fully link up the GCC member states by 2011.

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Built to tackle the power outages that cause a sweat in several of the members states in the summer months, and with the prospect of an energy trading market in mind, the grid has been a good source of business.

“We’re seeing double digit increases in spending across the region,” says Mohammed Masri, division manager of power products, Middle East & Africa, at ABB.

“What is most interesting is the cooperation that we’re seeing across countries, such as with the GCC Interconnection Grid. This collaborative effort will provide results much more quickly to business and residents who are still suffering from power cuts in the summer.”

ABB supplied six substations for phase I of the interconnection grid that linked up Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE,

Areva T&D, recently acquired by Alstom and Schneider Electric, have also been active with this project, supplying the Middle East’s first high voltage direct current (HVDC) substation, as well as an integrated grid automation solution in Saudi Arabia.

“We are definitely looking at the NME region in general and GCC particularly as a growing market for our company,” says Walter Dussaucy, communications director at Alstom Grid, who took over the transmission-oriented Middle Eastern Areva T&D business.

With all countries investing heavily, it us merely due to its size that Saudi Arabia outstrips its neighbours in terms in terms of the scale of its T&D infrastructure build up.

The Kingdom has pledged to invest a staggering US$80 billion into its electricity sector over the next decade.