Atlanta-based GE Energy has landed a $1.3 billion contract to supply equipment and seven years of maintenance for a new government-owned power plant in Kuwait.
GE’s contract comprises nearly half of a total $2.65 billion deal between the Kuwait Ministry of Electricity and Water, GE Energy and South Korea-based Hyundai Heavy Industries, which will provide the engineering and construction for the 2,000-megawatt plant in Sabiya, a city in the northern part of the small Persian Gulf country.
Demand for electricity is expected to grow by about 8 percent a year in Kuwait, and new supply is “critical” to sustain economic growth in the country, said Bader Shabeeb Al Shriaan, Kuwait’s minister of electricity and water, in a news release.
The new plant will boost Kuwait’s current 11,000-megawatt capacity by about 18 percent.
The gas and steam turbines GE Energy will provide will be manufactured in the United States.
The plant will open in phases, with 1,300 megawatts coming on line in 2011 and the second phase adding 700 megawatts in 2012.
GE has had a presence in Kuwait since the early 1970s. The Middle East is one of the company’s main growth markets.
Visit www.gepower.com for more information.
