The grid division of France’s Alstom has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Grid of Saudi Arabia for cooperating on developing electricity infrastructure in the kingdom.

Under the agreement, Alstom Grid will cooperate with the Saudi transmission company to improve the standards, design and engineering, and maintenance and operation of the country’s electricity infrastructure.

The agreement will cover equipment such as transformers, substations, smart grids and also management and maintenance procedures for networks.

National Grid is a subsidiary of state utility Saudi Electricity Company (SEC). National Grid was set up under the Electricity Industry Restructuring Plan, which sets out guidelines to split SEC into four generating companies and one distribution company in addition to National Grid. National Grid is the only entity to be unbundled to date, after being set up on 1 January 2012.