GDF Suez and its partners Aljomaih Holding of Saudi Arabia and Japan’s Sojitz will now start building the power project, situated approximately 125km west of Riyadh.
Total investment cost of the project will be approximately $2.1bn. Early power is expected by May 2012 and full completion of the plant is scheduled by March 2013.
With Marafiq, a combined power and desalination plant, and the Riyadh project, GDF Suez’s total installed capacity in the country will reach almost 4,500MW. The Riyadh project is one of the three independent power projects in Saudi Arabia designed to add 5,200MW to the domestic grid by 2015.
GDF Suez said that the Middle East is a priority and strategic area of development for it. As recently as end of May, the company won a $1.7bn contract for two new power stations in Oman, Barka 3 and Sohar 2, with a total capacity of approximately 1,500MW.
