DAMMAM: General Electric is planning to participate in a tender to build two wind turbines in Yanbu Industrial City,.
The project is expect to be awarded by end of this year with a total capacity of 800 megawatts.
The project will be developed over two phases with each phase supplying 400 megawatt.
Yanbu is a port city on the Red Sea coast of western Saudi Arabia and hosts major downstream oil and petrochemicals facilities.
The area is managed by the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu.
GE said it plans to accelerate its renewable production of wind turbines and hybrid battery storage, as well as solar and hydrogen-related products, in line with the Saudi green initiative.
The US-based engineering giant is also a leading manufacturer of gas turbines, which work to limit carbon emissions.
“GE has a record of efficient gas turbines, which we were able to achieve with our technology development,” said Hisham Albahkali, the president of GE Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, in an exclusive interview with Arab News. “We have been able to reach the optimum efficiency, which gives less pollution and less carbon.”
Albahkali explained how the firm aims to optimize the output of its gas turbine production.
He said: “Gas turbines work on fossil fuel, but the idea is to burn hydrogen. So, the output of the gas turbine won’t be combined with hydrocarbons.”
Separately, GE signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Aramco and the Saudi Electricity Company to develop a roadmap toward hydrogen and ammonia neutralization for power generation and carbon capture on May 16.
“We have provided Aramco and SEC with one wind turbine each, and we are participating in several solutions with them for batteries,” Albahkali added on the sidelines of the MoU signing ceremony.
FASTFACT
SME focus
GE has enrolled around 200 local SMEs into workshop units to help them meet global energy standards.
“Human capital is important for us,” Albahkali said.
GE celebrated its 130th anniversary in April and has operated in the Kingdom for 90 years.
