Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has selected France’s Alstom to extend five existing substations and provide and install two new substations in the kingdom.

The contract, which is worth €57m ($83m), includes project management from initial design, procurement and logistics, to commissioning, as well as the supply of the 132kV power transformers, capacitor banks, and automation.

The five substation extensions are located in Dirab, Huraymila, Al-Hayit, Baqaa and Al-Rosan. The two new 132kV/13.8kV substations, both located in Riyadh, will improve energy supply to the King Faisal Hospital and the Al-Taawoon area.

The projects are expected to be completed by December 2012.

Today, the existing total Saudi generation capacity is around 40GW. Based on an expected 7-8 per cent growth in electrical demand, this will reach 70GW by 2020. As a result of this anticipated growth, the government revealed plans to focus on building up its transmission infrastructure.