Siemens breaks ground on Saudi gas turbine facility
Manufacturing facility will be completed by 2013 and will create job opportunities for young Saudis.
Siemens, the German manufacturer of electrical infrastructure equipment, has broken ground on a major facility for gas turbines and compressors in Saudi Arabia, as part of a massive expansion campaign in the Kingdom.
Planned for completion in late 2013, the centre will create job opportunities for young Saudis, serving as a knowledge transfer hub for new technology and supporting the country’s industrialisation drive.
“With this new facility, Siemens is clearly strengthening its long-term commitment to Saudi Arabia. We will create qualified jobs and train young Saudis in order to achieve a true transfer of our technology,” said Dr Michael Suess, CEO of the Energy Sector and member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG.
The power equipment manufactured at the plant will be supplied to the local Saudi market, where the demand for energy is rapidly increasing. Siemens and its local partner, EA Juffali & Brothers, will jointly invest an unspecified amount into the facility, Suess said.
The plant will be constructed on a 220,000m2 site in Dammam in the Eastern Region of the country. It is the first manufacturing facility of its kind for Siemens in the Middle East.
The site aims to meet the highest requirements in terms of sustainability and resource efficiency, with LEED Gold Certification in the category of ‘New Construction’ the target. The new building will be designed and built to score highly in water and energy efficiency, using water saving fittings and highly efficient air conditioning systems.
Energy consumption is scheduled to be 20% lower than for a comparably used building.
Having been present in the Kingdom since the early 1930s, Siemens has around 2,000 employees in five different locations around the country. As such, Arja Talakar, CEO of Siemens Saudi Arabia said that the creation of the new hub meant that the company could help the Kingdom realise its industrialisation targets.
One method would be through the training of Saudi Arabia’s burgeoning youth population. In association with Saudi Petroleum Services Polytechnic (SPSP) and the Kingdom’s Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF), Siemens offers a two year technical apprenticeship program provided by SPSP, followed by one year of on-the-job training at Siemens.
Depending on their job field, these apprentices will be trained in various Siemens locations in the US and Germany. The first 40 Saudi students started their program in December 2011.
