Overview                                                                                          

Saudi Arabia faces a major challenge in meeting the electricity needs of its burgeoning population over the next 20 years.  Consumption is growing at an annual rate of 6 percent requiring an estimated $119 billion in direct capital investment by the year 2020.  The Saudi Government (SAG) seeks private investment to expand generation capacity, unify its national electricity grid, and switch its power plants from heavy oil to natural gas.  The SAG also needs development in the transmission sector.  Brown outs are common in the Western and Southern Provinces of Saudi Arabia due to insufficient capacity.  On November 2002, the Supreme Economic Council created a regulatory body to set prices and encourage foreign investment in the sector.  Since then, various projects have already been launched including upgrading existing power plants and building new facilities.

To encourage private sector investment in power generation, the Saudi government issued a decree in 1997 redefining power generation as an industrial activity, which brought power generation under the authority of the foreign investment code allowing both domestic and foreign investors to freely invest in power generation.  In 2003, the transmission and distribution sectors were opened to foreign and local investors, and the water and electricity operations were brought under the authority of a single ministry, the Ministry of Water & Electricity (MOW).

To ensure that the interest of private investors, electricity operators, and consumers are protected, the Saudi Government established an independent regulatory body, the Electricity and Co-Generation Regulatory Authority (ECRA).  A new Electricity law was passed in November 2005.  While its details have not yet been published, the new law is expected to reorganize the electricity sector and define the roles of the Ministry of Water and Electricity, the private sector, and the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC).

Best Prospects/Services                                                            

• Gas turbine units

• Steam turbine units

• Turbine spare parts & accessories

• Power plant design engineering firms

• Power plant consulting firms

Products and services related to the power industries:

• Valves,
• Compressors
• Pumps
• Spare parts
• Other related equipment and products.

For more information please contact:

Habeeb Saeed at habeeb.saeed@N0SPAM.mail.doc.gov in Riyadh
Yousef Daqqaq at yousef.daqqaq@N0SPAM.mail.doc.gov in Jeddah
Ishtiaq Hussain at ishtiaq.hussain@N0SPAM.mail.doc.gov in Dhaharan