Powering the Red Sea gigaproject
19 August 2022MAN Energy Solutions is to supply 25 biofuel-optimised gensets with a total generating capacity of 112 MW to the Red Sea Project, planned for Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast north of the city of Umluj, stretching over 200 km of coastline and an archipelago of more than 90 natural islands. The 28 000 km2 area will eventually include a total of 50 resorts spanning 22 islands and inland locations, and an international airport. The plan is to base the tourist giga-project, part of Saudi Vision 2030, upon a sustainable infrastructure, with renewable energy supply and complete independence from the national grid. The project includes a 340 MW PV plant plus 1.2 GWh battery energy storage system.
Above: The Red Sea project
The MAN gensets will be deployed at six locations, for back-up. The MAN ES scope includes 4 × MAN 18V51/60, 19 × MAN 9L21/31S and 2 × MAN 6L21/31S gensets, with each engine optimised for use with climate-neutral B100 biofuel.
The comprehensive clean energy supply infrastructure is being developed by a consortium led by ACWA Power of Saudi Arabia.
Launched in 2016, Saudi Vision 2030 is a intended as a blueprint for reducing Saudi Arabia’s dependence on oil exports and is focused on economic diversification and an expansion of the private service sector. The Red Sea Project is said to represent “the awakening and expansion of the Saudi Arabian tourism sector and is being supported by the Saudi Arabian government as a lighthouse project.”
The first phase of the project is scheduled to conclude at the end of 2023 with the opening of 16 hotels, while the international airport is set to also start operations in 2023. By 2030, it is envisaged that the 50 hotel resorts will be able to offer more than 8000 hotel rooms and 1000 residential properties.
To provide power during the construction phase of the Red Sea Project, Cat dealer Zahid Tractor was selected by the main contractor to supply 69 gensets, total capacity 32 MW, capable of running on both conventional diesel and B100 biodiesel.
Zahid Tractor has already delivered, installed and commissioned most of the gensets, which are in weather-resistant, sound-attenuated enclosures, and are currently being used to support construction activities and power workforce accommodation. Zahid Tractor is also addressing uptime needs through “customer value agreements”, which include customer technician training, regular maintenance at scheduled intervals, and around-the-clock, on-demand technical support. Most of the units are equipped with Cat Connect remote access monitoring.
A consortium led by ACWA Power, and composed of SPIC Huanghe Hydropower Development Company and Saudi Tabreed Cooling Company, achieved financial close in February 2022 for the US$1.302 billion senior debt facilities for the Red Sea Project.
ACWA Power is under contract to the Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC) to design, build, operate and transfer project’s utilities infrastructure. TRSDC is described as the procurer of the project, with all utilities being procured under a single offtake arrangement.
The scope of the project also includes construction of three seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plants (total capacity 32 500 cubic meters per day), a waste management centre and innovative sewage treatment plant.
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