Schneider Electric and the National Grid Saudi Arabia have renewed the three-year long agreement signed three years ago to continue to provide reliable and cost-effective electricity in Saudi Arabia.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) renewal, inked between Najib Al Naeem, country president of Schneider Electric and Waleed Al-Saadi, VP Engineering of National Grid SA, facilitates the two organizations to exchange knowledge, experiences, best practices and technology through conducting periodic technical forums hosted interchangeably at their premises.

The companies will also extend their collaboration as partners for decision making on standards, specifications, engineering, design, maintenance and operation. Additionally, Schneider Electric will continue to provide SEC/National Grid SA with training on mutually agreed focus areas, particularly environmental issues and regulations impacting the industry.

Al Naeem said: “Our relationship with SEC/National Grid SA is solid, and it has been further strengthened by the extension of this important MoU. As part of this agreement, we will continue to work towards developing standards and specifications that are specially tailored for the Saudi Arabia market. We will extend our collaboration with Saudi National Electro-Technical Committee (SNEC) in the fields of protection, substation design and automation, smart grid, maintenance and asset management.

“We are working to improve standardization in engineering and design of equipment according to the specifications and requirements of SEC/National Grid SA. Schneider Electric will continue to provide training and advanced certification programmes to engineers at National Grid. We are happy to see the great result of this empowerment and will exert more efforts to empower more employees to advance the nation’s electricity infrastructure.”

Through the renewal of this MoU, Schneider Electric will increase its efforts to further recruit Saudi engineers in all necessary fields. The company will also go farther in utilizing its internationally renowned expertise in design, installation and maintenance, in addition to leveraging its training experience towards the successful implementation of this agreement.

Al-Saadi said: “We believe the renewal of this MoU is a proof of its great success. We will continue working on expanding our efforts towards nationalization and localization of our resources in this key industry that is awaiting huge growth in Saudi Arabia. Schneider Electric has helped us in bring global expertise with a local perspective to the field and enhancing our existing and technical knowledge and is committed to help us further.” – TradeArabia News Service