Arabian Power Electronics Company opens its factory in Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia

It manufactures Power Electronics Equipment such as Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) Systems, Battery Chargers, Inverters, Frequency Converters and Solar Power Systems.

The factory is being inaugurated by HH Dr. Abdulrahman Bin Abdulmohsen Al-Tuwaijri, Kingdom's former Deputy Minister of Industry and Electricity. A number of leading luminaries of the Power Electronics Industry, academic research experts, dignitaries, celebrities, who is who of the Saudi and Indian Industry as well as representatives from various Government departments are participating.

For decades, Saudi Arabia and all the GCC countries have been importing very large quantities of Industrial Power Electronics equipment from all over the world. It was a dream of many to substitute these imported goods with locally manufactured products. When a group of keen technocrats and visionary business developers sat together a year ago, it was decided to explore this idea further. After making a comprehensive analysis of the market demand and feasibility study, it was found to be a much needed project which could bridge the gap between demand and supply.

The one unanimous choice for partnering this joint venture was APLAB, a leading power electronics manufacturer from India with over 50 years of pioneering experience in the Power Electronics field. The pedigree of APLAB is well known internationally.

The technologies developed by them have won many a laurel and are patented. The willingness of APLAB to author this project jointly with Eram Group of KSA gave a new shape to the joint venture.

APLAB's technology and knowhow were agreed to be shared. Eram Group, the local partner with global presence in 11 countries, with its extensive business development experience in the Kingdom, truly gave the much needed impetus to the project.

Operating across GCC, Europe and India for more than a decade under the dynamic leadership of Dr.Siddeek Ahmed, Eram Group have a proven track record in multifaceted activities ranging from Engineering, Infrastructure development, Industrial Contracting, Travel & Tourism, Automotive, Healthcare, Clean tech to Information Technology among various other key sectors.

Dr. Siddeek Ahmed's clear vision on the socio-economic contribution to the society at large has always remained as the core value of Eram Group's operations. This was inbuilt into APEC's strategy for the development of environmental friendly products.

Thereby, APEC was explicitly established with these noble objectives; to transfer the technology to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and localize the highly sophisticated technology of power electronics. As a targeted societal benefit, quality jobs will be created for Saudis. In fact, the targeted Saudization rate is 30% in the first year itself. As another resultant benefit, APEC will set the stage for many ancillary industries and services; it is therefore expected that APEC will aid the emerging of several support industries like fabrication, transformer winding, battery manufacturing, electronic components manufacturing, cooling fans etc.

Arabian Power Electronics Company (APEC) provides several other advantages to the Renewable Energy sector thereby directly helping the Saudi economy and society. One of APEC's products, the photovoltaic solar power system aims at developing solutions to preserve the nonrenewable fossil fuel resources for future generations.

APEC is committed to provide specialized training to local College and University students and discussions with academia are well underway towards this. That way, APEC will, over the next few years create a pool of highly skilled Saudi manpower in the field of Power Electronics. APEC is certain to boost the national pride and stimulate the sense of patriotism.

Along with the full-fledged plant and sophisticated testing facility, APEC proposes to maintain a massive R&D facility comprising of competent and experienced team of engineers and researchers. Consequently, APEC will be capable of developing highly customized products and solutions to meet the customer's needs.

"APEC's vision is to be the pioneers of Power Electronics in the Middle East. Through applying innovative solutions and maintaining close relationship with the customers, APEC aims to achieve its vision to be the leading and most reliable manufacturer in power electronics and solar power systems. APEC's mission is to secure critical processes with highly reliable and highly efficient power solutions." CMD of Eram Group Dr.Siddeek Ahmed said in a statement.

APEC will produce products that can last and withstand the unique environmental conditions of the region. APEC's quality management system will conform to the highest international standards meeting clients' requirements.

It is worthy to mention that APEC will cater to customers ranging from utility power, oil and gas plants to all industries that require industrial grade power supply products where reliability is significant and efficiency has a great deal of importance.

The plant's current installed capacity is to produce 200 units of UPS systems, 500 battery chargers, 100 inverters, 100 frequency converters and 100 solar power systems.

Currently, APEC's testing facility is designed to handle up to 200 kVA UPS and battery chargers up to 800A. The existing facility will be expanded within 3 years when the production volume increases.