Engie (formerly GDF Suez), a leading global energy group, has been awarded the contract and achieved financial closing for the greenfield Fadhili independent power project (IPP) in Saudi Arabia, the most efficient cogeneration plant in the country.
 
Located in the east of the kingdom, 50 km northwest of Jubail Industrial City, the Fadhili project is a combined cycled gas power plant with a capacity of 1,507 MW.

It will produce the equivalent of the electricity consumption of 1.4 million people. It will also produce 1,447 tons per hour of steam and 768.8 tons per hour of feed water.
 
Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) will be the off-taker for electricity and Saudi Aramco for the steam and feed water under 20-year purchase agreements.

As per the deal, Engie will have a 40 per cent equity ownership in the project company, while SEC and Saudi Aramco Power Holding Company (Saphco) will each hold a 30 per cent stake.
 
Engie will work on this project together with South Korean Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co. for Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) and with Siemens for the gas turbines supply.

The scope of work will include the construction of a 380 kV substation to be transferred to SEC in 2018 for ownership, operation and maintenance.
 
On the contract win, Isabelle Kocher, CEO of Engie, said: "Being awarded the Fadhili project reaffirms our leading position as independent power producer in the Middle East. We are also proud of the continued trust of SEC and Saudi Aramco, our long-term partners in Saudi Arabia."

"Over the last few years, the group has earned a reputation of being a reliable developer and operator of electricity and water facilities in the country. The Fadhili project is in line with our strategy that aims at concentrating on low CO2 activities via renewable energies and gas for power generation," noted Kocher.

"It also demonstrates our commitment to meet the exacting standards of performance expected by our customers," he noted.
 
According to him, the commercial operation of the Fadhili plant is scheduled at the end of 2019.
 
Total investment cost for the project is $1.2 billion and will be partially financed through $950 million of non-recourse project finance debt provided by MUFG, KfW Ipex, SMBC, National Commercial Bank, Korea Exim Bank and Islamic Development Bank, he added.-TradeArabia News Service