GE wins Saudi power plant contract worth nearly $1 billion

General Electric announced today that it had won a contract worth nearly $1 billion from the Saudi Electricity Company to build and supply a power plant in northern Saudi Arabia.

Under the contract, the US industrial giant will build the Waad Al Shamal combined-cycle power plant and provide four advanced gas turbines, a steam turbine and turbine maintenance services.

Waad Al Shamal will serve phosphate mining operations in an area of Saudi Arabia that the government has targeted for industrial development, GE said in a statement.

The 1,390-megawatt plant, which also will have solar technology, will be able to provide the equivalent power needed to supply more than 500,000 Saudi homes.

GE said one of the gas turbines will be built at a GE plant in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, with the remaining three and a steam turbine to be constructed in the US.

"Waad Al Shamal brings significant value to the Kingdom by strengthening the northern grid and through its potential to energise the local industrial sector," said Mohammed Mohaisen, president and chief executive of GE gas power systems for the Middle East and North Africa, in the statement.

"We are delivering on our commitment to provide stronger localisation support to our partners."

GE shares rose 0.5 per cent to $31.19 in afternoon trade.