Siemens Energy bags $1.5 bln deal to supply Saudi Arabia with efficient gas turbines

Two new power plants will be constructed in Saudi Arabia after a 1.5 billion dollar deal with the German energy corporation Siemens Energy. They will combine gas and steam turbines to produce energy with 60 percent less emissions than a plant run on oil, a fuel some of the oil-rich country’s power plants still use, Siemens Energy said. The plants named Taiba 2 and Qassim 2 will be in constant operation in 2027, after a pilot phase in 2026. The new plants are an attempt to assist the country in its goal to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2060.

Germany has previously signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia in 2021 to cooperate on the production, processing, application and transport of green hydrogen. Siemens Energy launched in 2020 as a spin-off from the Siemens engineering brand that focuses on producing energy technology such as gas turbines, steam turbines, wind turbines, generators, transformers and compressors. The company has struggled to make key components of its business profitable, having received 12 billion euros in guarantees from the German state and several banks.