Ali bin Saleh Al-Barrak, CEO of SEC, said the project was planned to meet electricity requirements of new industrial and infrastructure projects including King Abdullah Economic City. The plant is expected to be completed in the summer of 2014.

The Rabigh-6 plant, using gas turbines, will be powered by natural gas and crude. It will have a capacity of 2,400 to 2,800 MW, around 12 to 14 percent of the 20,000 MW of power the SEC plans to add by 2018 at an estimated total cost of $80 billion.

Power demand in the world's largest oil exporter is expected to triple to 121,000 megawatts. Water and Electricity Minister Abdullah Al-Hussayen estimated the annual growth of electricity power demand in the Kingdom at a staggering eight percent.

He expected that the Kingdom's electricity production capacity would increase to 60,000 megawatts by 2020. "This means we need SR30 billion annually to meet the growing energy demand," he added.

SEC's board of directors recently approved a number of 380KV power transmission lines with a total length of 886 kilometers, as well as three 380KV transformer stations in Al-Jouf, Hail and the Eastern Province with a total capacity of 2,500 megawatts.

A senior SEC official said a number of important electricity projects would enter service this year, including the 10th power plant in Riyadh, which will have a capacity of 880 megawatts and the newly expanded 110 megawatt Wadi Al-Dawasser plant.

According to a recent report issued by SEC, the Kingdom's electricity generation capacity rose by 31.4 percent in 2009 compared to the previous year, bringing the country's total capacity to 44,485MW.

"The actual power generating capacity reached 38,680MW in 2009, registering an increase of 10.6 percent compared to the previous year," the report said. SEC sold 274,391 gigawatt/hour in 2009, an increase of 6.8 percent compared to the previous year.

The company has invested $38 billion (SR142.5 billion) in electricity projects since its formation on April 5, 2000 until the end of 2008 for generation, transmission and distribution.

"The SEC is currently implementing projects worth SR84 billion in various regions of the Kingdom, in addition to projects with a total capacity of 15,000 megawatts that will enter service this year," the report pointed out.

The number of electricity subscribers in the Kingdom reached 5.7 million by the end of 2009, up 5.2 percent from 2008.