Alstom Grid, an expert in electrical grid performance, has clinched a 66 million euros ($93.5 million) contract from Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity to design, manufacture and install the gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) substation in Mosul East.

This latest turnkey project awarded by the ministry's directorate General of Electrical Transmission Projects includes a 400kV/132kV/11kV GIS substation, power transformers, site supervision and civil works, said a company statement.

This is key to the electrical network expansion in the Mosul Governorate, it added.

Grégoire Poux-Guillaume, Alstom Grid president, said: “We are extremely pleased that the Ministry of Electricity has chosen to partner with Alstom for this important project.'

Alstom is firmly committed to supporting Iraq’s economic development by providing its global expertise and field proven electrical grid technologies for its infrastructure, oil & gas and utility projects.”

'This is Alstom Grid’s first contract to be signed directly with the Ministry of Electricity since 2003, and the company’s second major win in Iraq this year,' he noted.

'In May, Alstom Grid was chosen by Calik Energy to supply two GIS substations connecting the new Al-Khairat and Nainawa power plants being built in Iraq to the transmission grid,'  Poux-Guillaume said.

'With the Iraq steadily increasing its power generation capacity, Alstom Grid’s leading technology will allow the country to strengthen its transmission system, providing a more efficient and dependable supply of electricity, he added.

 Alstom Grid will manufacture the GIS equipment in France and Switzerland. Commissioning of the project is due in 2013.-TradeArabia News Service