Siemens to build power plant with seawater desalination facility in the UAE

As consortium leader the company will build the plant as a turnkey project together with the consortium partners Doosan Heavy Industries and Samsung Engineering & Construction.

After the scheduled start of operation in September 2011, the plant will generate more then 1500 megawatts of electricity net and feed approximately 455,000 cubic meters of water daily into the local drinking water network. Project developer is GDF Suez. End customer is the local energy provider Abu Dhabi Electricity & Water Authority (ADWEA). The value of the order for Siemens is approximately Dhs1.7bn.

For the countries on the Arabian Gulf, expansion of the energy and water infrastructure is vital to keep pace with population growth and industrial development. After erection of the Al Ezzel combined cycle power plant in Bahrain, this is the second order Siemens has received from GDF Suez and the fifth project for ADWEA in Abu Dhabi.

"Shuweihat I and II are among the highest-performance plants of their kind and stand out by their sheer size,"

said Michael Suess, CEO of the Fossil Power Generation Division of Siemens Energy.

"With approximately 1.2 square kilometers Shuweihat II covers a surface area the size of around 180 football fields," Suess added. The two plants are located approximately 200 kilometers west of Abu Dhabi.

"Siemens has made its mark with its specialist power plant know-how and is market leader for power plants with integrated seawater desalination facilities in the Gulf region. With this order we continue to maintain our leading position in the region," said Suess.

Siemens scope of supply is mainly the power plant's main components comprising four SGT5-4000F gas turbines, two SST5-6000 steam turbines, six generators, the electrical systems and I&C package SPPA-T3000 for total plant control. Doosan Heavy Industries will build the seawater desalination plant based on MSF technology. Samsung Engineering & Construction will be responsible for civil works.