ABB, a leading global technology company, has won an order worth around $26 million to supply gas insulated switchgear (GIS) which will be installed at a substation that will transmit power from Green Duba, in Saudi Arabia.

Green Duba, the kingdom’s first integrated solar combined cycle (ISCC) power plant, is located in the north-west, along the Red Sea coast, and will be operational in 2018.

The energy generated from the plant will be equivalent to the annual power consumption of approximately 600,000 Saudi Arabian households.

The Green Duba power plant will deploy an innovative solution that integrates solar energy and combines with natural gas to produce up to 550 megawatts (MW) of electricity, of which 50 MW will be from solar, said a statement from the company.

The adjoining substation will be constructed by SSEM-Initec Energia Consortium for the country’s leading power utility, National Grid, Saudi Arabia, it said.

ABB will design, supply and commission a 420-kilovolt (kV) GIS for this substation, providing a compact solution with increased reliability and safety, while minimising environmental impact, it added.

Giandomenico Rivetti, managing director of ABB’s High Voltage Products business unit, a part of the company’s power grids division, said: “Our proven GIS technology will help integrate clean solar energy into the grid and enhance power transmission capacity to address growing electricity demand in the region.”

“We have an extensive track-record in the region and are pleased to deploy our leading-edge technologies to support the integration of renewables, a key element of our Next Level strategy,” he added.

ABB’s GIS has been enhancing electricity transmission in Saudi Arabia for almost four decades, and has been deployed extensively in the Gulf Grid project, which links the electricity networks of six Gulf states as well as the Haramain high-speed railway project that connects the pilgrimage cities of Makkah and Madinah, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service