Cumulative Gas Turbine Orders from Middle East Reach 80 Units

On the back of robust economic growth, numerous social infrastructure improvement projects are under way or being planned in the countries of the Middle East. Investment into Ras Laffan power generation and desalination plant is a keystone among such projects. Investments into 2,000 MW (megawatt) class large-scale IWPP are expected to continue at a rate of two to three projects every year.

Ras Laffan C IWPP's project is Ras Girtas Power Company (RGPC), which is formed by companies in Japan, Europe and Qatar, to supply electricity and water to Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (KAHRAMAA) for 25 years. The companies invested in RGPC include Mitsui & Co., Ltd., Suez-Tractebel S.A. of Belgium, Qatar Petroleum (QP), a state-owned oil company, and Qatar Electricity & Water Company (QEWC).

The plant to be built in Ras Laffan, which is one of the world's largest of this kind, consists of a natural-gas-fired GTCC power generation facility with a total generation capacity of 2,730 MW and a desalination plant with capacity to produce 63 million gallons of water per day from seawater. MHI will provide eight M701F gas turbines and four 260 MW steam turbines, which will collectively serve as the power generation and desalination plant’s core components, to Mitsui & Co., the contractor of the plant construction. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation will be responsible for 12 generators. The desalination facility will be supplied by SIDEM of France. Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd. of Korea will play a coordinating role for the overall plant facility, which is slated to go on-stream in April 2011.

The order for the Saudi Aramco project calls for a package consisting of a 150 MW natural-gas-fired M701F gas turbine and a generator, with delivery slated for 2010. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation will supply the generator, and Mitsubishi Corporation will handle the trade particulars.

Of the 80 units ordered from the Middle East to date, 29 have been for Saudi Arabia, including 25 units for Saudi Aramco. Saudi Arabia has developed a program to increase energy resource production and the gas turbine for Karan Gas Facilities to be used for the gas refinery is expected to contribute to stable global energy supply, following gas turbines delivered by MHI in recent years to Berri and Khursaniyah plants of Saudi Aramco.

MHI has delivered numerous large-scale thermal power generation plants and desalination plants to the Middle East region since the 1980s. In August 2005 the company received a full-turnkey order for large-scale power generation and desalination plants from a consortium composed of Marubeni Corporation, JGC Corporation, Itochu Corporation and ACWA Power, and in March 2007 a corresponding order from an SPC backed by Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) and other investors. On the strength of the latest orders from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, MHI now plans to further boost its local marketing activities in a quest to attract orders for various infrastructure improvement projects in the region.