ABB has announced that it has won orders worth $60m (£36m) from the Saudi Electricity Company, Saudi Arabia’s national power transmission and distribution utility, to improve the power efficiency of 28 distribution substations.
The Swiss company will be responsible for the design, engineering, supply, installation and commissioning of the projects, which are expected to be completed by 2010.
ABB will provide power-factor correction for 19 substations rated 33/13.8kV in central, southern and northwestern provinces, and nine 132/33kV substations in and around the capital, Riyadh.
Equipment to be supplied under the contract includes capacitor banks, reactors, medium-voltage switchgear, protection and control equipment, and a SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system to help the utility manage the flow of power in the network.
A distribution system's operating power comprises active or 'working' power and reactive or 'non-working' power. Power factor represents the ratio between the two and is a measure of a power network's efficiency.
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