Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has announced it will tender construction contracts for three major power generation projects in 2014, including the planned 1,760MW PP14 facility.

PP14 will be located next to the PP10 plant, south of Riyadh. In November last year, SEC awarded a contract to the US’ GE to supply turbines for the proposed PP14 project. The firm will provide combined-cycle gas turbines, steam turbines and generators, which will be used for the facility.

In April 2013, Australia’s WorleyParsons was awarded an estimated $125m deal to provide engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services for the PP14 and PP13 plants. The scope of work will include conceptual engineering, detailed design, material procurement, project and construction management, and commissioning management.

SEC’s proposed 2014 project list also includes schemes to upgrade its existing PP9 and Faras power plants to combined-cycle facilities. The state-owned utility provider will press ahead with 22 transmission and distribution projects in the next calendar year, including creating new connections and reinforcing existing transmission lines.

In addition to the three major engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) power generation schemes, SEC is also in the early stages of the procurement process for its next independent power project (IPP), Duba 1.

The 600MW Duba 1 IPP will be the region’s first private integrated solar combined-cycle (ISCC) plant and will run on a mix of natural gas and solar energy. Developers were invited to submit expressions of interest (EoIs) in the project by 12 January. In November last year, SEC appointed Germany’s Fichtner as technical consultant and awarded a contract to the local office of Mohanned bin Saud al-Rasheed to provide legal consultancy services for the scheme.

The project will have an estimated cost of $600m, with about half being provided by the private sector. The planned commissioning date of the plant is 2017.

Progress with Duba 1 follows the signing of the power purchase agreement (PPA) and project finance agreements for the $1.6bn Rabigh 2 IPP in December.

SEC’s EPC and IPP programmes form the central part of the kingdom’s plans to boost power generating capacity to cope with the expected rise in demand. In its 2012 annual report, SEC forecast that peak demand would grow from 51,900MW to 85,000MW in 2020 and 120,000MW by 2030.