The Shoaiba Power Plant II is located 103 kilometres south of Jedda in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It was here that the Saudi Electric Company decided to build the plant to provide 1200 MW power generating capacity through a combined cycle power plant.

background

The Saudi Electric Company (SEC) is a Saudi Arabia-based joint-stock company with headquarters in Riyadh that generates, transmits and distributes electricity across the country. Given the country’s forbidding and arid climate, there is a constant demand for power—from both industrial and residential sources. One particular spike in demand occurs during Ramadan. This Muslim holiday, falling on the ninth month of the Islam calendar, is marked by holidays. Given that Ramadan usually falls during the summer months, temperatures can climb up into the mid-forties. Resulting surges in demand for air conditioning can cause brown outs.

In 2011, the SEC decided to commission a new power plant to provide 1200 MW more power. And rapidly. The company’s’ ambitious goal? Have the plant, called Shoaiba II, up and operational before Ramadan in July of 2013. (Shoaiba I is another separate, plant.) The SEC issued an RFP for bids. Given Pöyry’s global track record, and their competitive pricing, SEC awarded the work to Pöyry.

cLIEnT chaLLEngE

There were a number of challenges sur-rounding the construction of Shoaiba II. For starters, the aggressive timeline aimed at completing the work in less than two years in preparation for Ramadan in 2013. The environment

Shoaiba II Power Plant: Meet-ing the demand for electricity

was another factor. The location, more than 100 kilometres south of Jedda, is a desert terrain with little infrastructure making it difficult to attract and house a capable workforce. Bureaucracy associated with the project also proved daunting. The vetting process for approving professionals was strict and required lengthy visa and permit processes. Once they were hired, more than 50 personnel needed to be recruited, housed and supervised at the site in time to meet the July 2013 deadline. Workers lived six days a week on site at the dusty camps surrounding the construction site. The challenge was made even more difficult when problems arose with delays in soil improvement and additional manpower had to be brought in to recover the lost time.

SharIng SuccESS

SuccESS FacTorS

Working on a compressed timeline, under the conditions demanded by the Shoaiba II site required seamless coordination and communication be-tween Pöyry, SEC and the contractors. Making sure that the civil engineers understood the mechanical challenges and vice versa was just one critical role Pöyry played as site supervisor.

“We made sure the right material, the right equipment and the right personnel converged on the site at the right time,” noted Nico Kruger, Project Manager from Pöyry. “Not an easy task considering the scope of this project and the time constraints we faced.”

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Pöyry is an international consulting and engineering company. We serve clients globally across the energy and industrial sectors and locally in our core markets. We deliver strategic advisory and engineering services, underpinned by strong project implementation capability and expertise. Our focus sectors are power generation, transmission & distribution, forest industry, chemicals & biorefining, mining & metals, transportation, water and real estate sectors. Pöyry has an extensive local office network employing about 6500 experts.

kEY FacTS

Pöyry’s work at Shoaiba II included:

• Assisting the client in reviewing the EPC

contractor’s detail design

• Inspection and oversight of factory

acceptance tests

• Site supervision of contractor work for

construction of 10 gas turbines and two

steam turbines

SoLuTIonS

The Shoaiba II power plant features 10 gas turbines and two steam turbines. Pöyry was responsible for reviewing the EPC contractor’s detail design and approving it. They used their expertise in projects from around the globe in the inspection and oversight of factory acceptance tests. And in the site supervision of the contractor. The planned direct and indirect labour at the peak period required some 3,500 personnel at the site. In reality this doubled to nearly 7,000 during the peak months of April, May and June, placing enormous strain on the site supervision personnel.

bEnEFITS

As a result of the Pöyry’s work supervising the Shoaiba II project, and thanks to the collaborative efforts of all parties involved, the July 2013 deadline was met with two days to spare. And brown-outs were avoided. Now Saudi Arabia enjoys that much more electricity to power the growth of its industries and to keep its citizens more comfortable.