Hajr Electricity Production Company (HAJR) has announced that it has met all the conditions necessary to achieve financial close under the senior credit facilities, meaning US $2.05 billion of senior credit facilities is available to fund the Qurayyah power project. The plant, which will deliver 3927 MW of electricity to Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) under a 20 year Power Purchase Agreement, is currently being developed at Qurayyah on Saudi Arabia’s east coast.
The facility is set to incorporate six identical groups of equipment, each delivering 654.5 MW of output from two gas turbines, two heat recovery steam generators and one steam turbine. HAJR executive managing officer Yousef Al Ouhali has said it will be “the largest IPP combine cycle gas-fired power plant in the world once completed”. It is scheduled to start providing power to the grid on 30 June 2014.
The project costs are forecast at $2.72 billion and are set to be 75% funded by debt, split equally between USD and SAR facilities. The US dollar facilities are to be covered by banking groups such as HSBS and Standard Chartered, whilst local banks involved include Banque Saudi Fransi and National Commercial Bank. When finished, the plant will be run by the First National Operation & Maintenance Company (NOMAC), a subsidiary of ACWA Power, the consortium that owns 50% of the project.
