The plant, being built on behalf of Riyadh-based Shuaibah Water and Electricity Company (SWEC), will be the world’s largest independent water and power project (IWPP).

The Shuaibah plant, to be constructed by a consortium headed by Siemens PG with Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co providing the desalination plant, will be located about 110 km south of Jeddah.

Siemens will supply three oil-fired 400 MW steam turbine-generator units along with the associated electrical and instrumentation & control systems.

Once the three units are commissioned in late 2009, the plant will provide around 900 MW of power and about 880,000 m3 of fresh water for the cities of Mecca, Jeddah, Taif and Al-Baha.