Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) has awarded Areva Transmission and Distribution two major contracts to develop and upgrade the country’s electricity network.
The first contract – worth almost EUR500 million – includes the turnkey delivery of 14 gas-insulated substations and is the largest ever contract received by Areva in the T&D sector. The second contract is for the delivery of equipment to upgrade Qatar’s National Control Center.
The first contract was awarded under the Qatar Power Transmission System Expansion Program and will improve the network in the Doha region. The equipment will be delivered in early 2010.
Together the two contracts will help the country meet the demands of rapidly rising electricity consumption. The National Control Center was built in the 1990s and represents the heart of Qatar’s power transmission system.
Areva has a 20 per cent market share in the region and the company’s nuclear business is also targeting the Middle East by proposing the construction of a new nuclear power plant in the UAE with partners Total and Suez.
Electricity demand in Qatar is rising at double-digit rates and the government has undertaken a restructuring of the power sector in order to encourage investment in generation. Transmission and distribution is controlled by state-owned Kahramaa.
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