Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) will secure a loan of up to $1 billion to partly finance building a power plant, the utility said on the stock exchange on Tuesday.

SEC has last year signed a SR3.68-billion ($980 million) deal to build a combined cycle power plant in Waad Al Shamal.

The plant will have a total capacity of 1,390 megawatt (MW), of which 50 MW will come from a solar component.

The solar energy is expected to save the equivalent of 4 million barrels of oil equivalent over the course of the project.

Including the cost of connecting the plant to the electricity grid, the project's total costs are expected to reach SR4.67 billion ($1.24 billion).-Reuters