ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, has won an order worth around $140 million from the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa), the state-owned operator of the electricity and water sector.

ABB will build four new transmission substations and upgrade four existing substations to help meet the growing residential and commercial demand for electricity in the region, in particular the new Al Rayyan village development and other suburbs in and around the fast-developing greater Doha area.

“The substations will deploy our latest GIS technology which provides an extremely compact footprint and is ideally suited for such urban applications,” said Peter Leupp, head of ABB’s Power Systems division.

ABB will design, supply, install and commission four new 66/11 kV (kilovolt) GIS (gas-insulated switchgear) substations as part of a turnkey contract that also includes key products like shunt reactors, transformers, medium-voltage switchgear and cables.

The substations will be equipped with ABB automation systems and the latest generation of protection and control products, compliant with the IEC 61850 global substation communications standard.

In addition, ABB will upgrade four existing transmission substations to help strengthen the power network and enhance grid reliability. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.

Kahramaa's transmission grid comprises about 200 primary high-voltage and extra-high voltage substations. The distribution network includes about 6,500 low- and medium-voltage substations.-TradeArabia News Service