Siemens has announced it is building a 400 kV grid station to service Abu Dhabi, the first of its size to be fully designed, engineered and built solely by the company.

The value of the contract was given as Dh500 million ($136.1 million). The announcement comes on the heels of a statement that Siemens Energy will construct the Shuweihat S3 turnkey combined cycle power plant in Abu Dhabi. Siemens will service the increased demands on power supply in Abu Dhabi with the new 400 kV grid station.

The 400/132 kV grid station deal was signed with Adwea/Transco, owners of the generation and transmission grid, and will be based in the Mahawi area of Abu Dhabi. Once completed in 2013, the grid station will be the main power supply source for mega development projects in Mussafah, Mohamed bin Zayed City, Mahawi, Watbha, Khalifa City, Old Airport and Capital District. The grid station will also allow Transco to reconfigure existing 400 kV and 132 kV overhead line circuits to improve system reliability.

Wolfgang Braun, head of energy transmission and distribution, said the local team would be supported by Siemens AG in Germany in terms of equipment supply, but the project would be totally designed, engineered, constructed and commissioned by UAE-based staff.

The solutions offered by Siemens for the turnkey grid station will consist of 400 kV GIS switchgear 8DQ1, 132 kV switchgear 8DN8-enhanced version, 33 kV switchgear 8DB10 and 500 MVA and 120 MVA power transformers together with a complete balance of plant equipment and civil works.