ABB has won an order to design and deliver 420 kV high voltage gas insulated switchgear that will facilitate the supply of power to the Yanbu 3 desalination facility in Saudi Arabia and support the grid integration of a new 2.5 GW power generation plant.

These new facilities are being developed by the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), the country's government agency responsible for desalinating seawater and the second largest electric power producer in the country.

The ABB order was received from the Al Fanar Group, a leading engineering, procurement and construction company. The multi-stage flash desalination plant, which is being built by Doosan, is scheduled to be commissioned in June 2014 and is located in Yanbu Industrial City.

The plant will have a capacity to produce 550,000 m³/d. Saudi Arabia is the world's largest producer of desalinated water and SWCC operates 27 desalination plants producing more than 3 million m³/d of potable water.