Saudi Arabia has decommissioned its oldest Independent Water and Power Project (IWPP), the Shuaibah-3 plant, replacing it with the more-efficient Shuaibah-3 reverse osmosis (RO) facility. The move is symbolic of Saudi Arabia’s ongoing efforts to upgrade its energy-intensive utilities sector, with the old oil-fired Shuaibah plant replaced with a new grid-connected facility with its own captive solar power capacity.
The original Shuaibah 3 plant was operated by the Shuaibah Water and Electricity Company (SWEC: PIF 32%, SEC 8%, Acwa Power 30%, Malakoff 24%, TNB 6%) under a 20-year PWPA (power and water purchase agreement), with operations starting in 2010. SWEC will continue to receive capacity payments until the PWPA expires. The facility had capacity to produce 880,000 m3/day and generate 900MW of electricity, using 22mn barrels of Arab Light crude oil feedstock annually (60,000 b/d). (CONTINUED - 819 WORDS)
