The Kingdom's power-generation capacity and demand for a sustainable water supply are expected to increase as its population is expected to continue to grow, GE Energy said in a statement on Friday on the eve of the three-day 4th Saudi Water and Power Forum (SWPF) to be held here. Against this backdrop, GE is offering tailored infrastructure solutions as key to meet growing demand in Kingdom. GE, which has been active in Saudi Arabia for more than 70 years supplying technology and service solutions to help the Kingdom meet its infrastructure needs, including power generation and water management, said it stays committed to its “role in helping the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia meet its growing need for reliable energy.” “We are committed to our Saudi customers and continue to grow our local presence to deliver innovative technology solutions best suited to the Kingdom's power needs,” said Joseph Anis, GE Energy's region executive for the Middle East, adding that GE's participation in the Forum “provides an excellent opportunity to discuss technology requirements with the country's key decision makers.” Steve Bolze, president and CEO of GE Energy's Power & Water Business, added that “Saudi Arabia is a cornerstone of GE's growth plans for the Middle East.” “The company remains committed to supporting our Saudi customer's public and private sector growth by delivering reliable power and water management technology solutions and by maintaining a strong local presence in the Kingdom.” GE's suite of broad portfolio of technology solutions and services are also instrumental in helping boost usable water supplies in the region. GE's solutions cover a breadth of needs including desalination, municipal, utility, industrial wastewater, process chemicals and separation, product water and residential products. GE recently has teamed up with Al-Tamimi Group to supply a rapidly deployable, mobile fleet of reverse osmosis, ultra-filtration, multi-media pretreatment and clean-in-place systems. The mobile fleet is available for industrial and municipal sites facing water scarcity and quality challenges or for sites that lack infrastructure to provide adequate water treatment. GE Energy's Power Technology Center in Dammam will expand GE's service and repair capabilities for customers in the Kingdom and the region. Moreover, GE is constructing a new 7,500 sq.m. chemical blending plant in Dammam to provide chemical products to the power, oil, gas, and manufacturing industries as well as municipal water and wastewater treatment sites. The chemical blending plant is expected to be operational in early 2009. GE has supplied more than 400 turbines for projects across Saudi Arabia. Notable energy projects in the Kingdom featuring GE's solutions include: Marafiq, the world's largest Independent Water and Power Project (IWPP). When completed Marafiq will have the capacity to produce over 2.7 GW of power and 800,000 m³ of desalinated water per day; Saudi Electricity Company's PP9, the largest combined-cycle facility in the Middle East with capability to produce over 2GW of power; and SEC's PP8 Riyadh project featured the shipment of GE's 1,000th advanced F-technology gas turbine. __
