Adrian Wood (right), CEO of Siemens in Qatar with Fahad Al Mohannadi, Chairman of Umm Al Houl and CEO of Qatar Electricity and Water Company during the event in Doha yesterday. Pic: Baher Amin/The Peninsula
DOHA: The German engineering giant Siemens yesterday announced that they have received the 1000th (F-class) gas turbine for the upcoming Umm Al Houl combined cycle power plant in Qatar.
The state-of-the-art SGTS-4000F gas turbine weighing 300 metric tonnes, which is equivalent to nearly four A320 aircraft of Airbus, reached Qatar after a journey of thousands of miles from the Siemens factory in Berlin, the fifth of six 11-meter-long turbines has made it to the plant that will supply around a quarter of Qatar’s power generation capacity.
The event was attended by Adrian Wood, CEO of Siemens in Qatar; Gianluigi Di Giovanni, Senior Executive Vice President, Power Generation Service, Middle East and North Africa at Siemens; Fahad AI Mohannadi, Chairman of Umm AI Houl and General Manager and Managing Director of Qatar Electricity and Water Company (QEWC); Jamal AI Khalaf, CEO of Umm AI Houl Power Company and John Chang, Executive Vice President of Global Business and Operations at Samsung C& T.
“Qatar is witnessing rapid industrial, economic and population growth. With that comes greater demand for electricity and water supply. Our innovative gas turbine technology will help ensure the Umm AI Houl power plant, an essential component of the country’s future power infrastructure, will operate reliably and efficiently for many years to come,” said Wood.
The turbine has travelled from the Siemens factory to Berlin’s Westhafen port and then to Rotterdam. Upon arriving at the Rotterdam seaport, it was loaded onto a heavy cargo vessel, before voyaging through the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea via Gibraltar. It subsequently entered the Red Sea through the Suez Canal, making its way around the Arabian Peninsula, and finally reaching its destination in Qatar. One SGT5-4000F turbine has a capacity of 300 megawatts, which translates into electricity for 1.8 million people.
AI Mohannadi (of QEWC), said: “As our country makes big strides towards industrialisation and developing its infrastructure, this power plant will be integral to boosting its future electricity supply.”
