RIYADH: The new budget approved by the Board of Directors of the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) contains a number of mega projects, including the Twelfth Power Plant in Riyadh, a power generating plant in southern Jeddah and a new power generating plant to be constructed in Jizan, according to Engineer Ali Al-Barrak, Executive President of the SEC. He said each of these plants would generate over 2,000 Megawatts. As for the replacement of electricity transformers, Al-Barrak said the company has a program to replace all the old electricity networks, upgrade them and get rid of the “overhead networks” in many cities of the Kingdom. He expressed his hope that the SEC would be able to execute this program rapidly. Speaking about the two explosions at the Eighth and Tenth power stations, he said they were not related to the weather or operation of the stations, pointing out that the errors were commonplace and was a result of workers not complying with security and safety requirements and the precautionary measures laid down by the company. He confirmed that the company has been operating for 30 years and rejected claims the two recent explosions indicate that it lacks sufficient protection and safety systems. He called on all the workers in the power generating stations and networks to abide by safety rules to prevent the recurrence of such accidents.
