Desert challenge

The 400kV Al Zour gas-insulated substation in Kuwait.

One of the challenges the company was confronted with was a lack of construction materials in the region due to the prevailing construction boom. “As we were contracted for a turnkey job, we were responsible for every step from base design to handing over the stations,” says Hellenas.
 

“At the time, there was an extreme boom in the construction industry, and thus a lack of steel and concrete in most of the countries, especially in Qatar and Bahrain.

So instead of buying these materials locally as we usually do, we had to ship and import them, mainly from Saudi Arabia. To import materials without special custom duties, we needed special permits, which we acquired with the help of the utilities in each country.”

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In Qatar, there was also a shortage of suitable civil contractors. A consortium was formed with civil contractors in Bahrain and Qatar to overcome this challenge.

Another challenge was posed by the site and the road conditions. Unstable ground in Kuwait where the seawater was only half a meter below the surface required the entire site to be drained with pumps before any construction work could be started.

In addition, several roads had to be widened and reinforced to permit the transportation of large transformers and reactors, each weighing several hundred tons. The truck transport of such bulky equipment is usually escorted and done during the night to minimize impact on normal traffic.
 

Road barriers and ramps also had to be modified and constructed at times to facilitate transportation.

One of the biggest obstacles had to be overcome even before construction began, as GCC countries worked with varying electricity specifications.

“What was unique about this project was that we were tasked with implementing one and the same specification for all the four countries we were installing substations in.

We followed the GCCIA specifications, which was the same for all four countries, but which were slightly different from the specifications of the utilities in each of these countries. For example the electricity frequency in Saudi is 60Hz, whilst in the rest of the region it is 50Hz.”

The GCC Interconnection Grid explained
Upon completion in 2011, this mega-sized pooling of electricity resources will interconnect the power grids of the six Gulf states – Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman – and enable them to use their electricity resources more effectively.

Due to the grid expansion on the 400 kV level in the Gulf region, a sustainable reduction of transmission losses can be achieved.

The development of the grid on this high voltage level also enables the balancing of power supply between the major Gulf countries since power can be exchanged, allowing national power generation resources to be used more efficiently.

The sharing of spinning reserves leads to the increased stability of the power system and helps mitigate interruptions and black-outs, its planners hope.

The interconnection will also enable the six states to establish an energy trading market and facilitate the cooperation between them. In the long term, it could also open up prospects of linking up with Europe and North Africa to form a ring of interconnected power grids around the Mediterranean.