Saudi Arabian re-roller Al Yamamah Steel has completed design works and is considering contractors’ bids to execute civil and electromechanical works at the Al Yamamah Wind Power Systems factory, it says in a bourse filing.

The plant’s construction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2023, indicating a short delay since the firm said in February completion was scheduled for Q4 2022.

The new facility plans to supply steel towers for wind energy turbines and is expected to have an investment cost of $78m (see Kallanish passim). 25% of the project funding will be sourced from within the company, 25% by local banks, and the remainder from the Saudi Industrial Development Fund.

The facility will contribute local content to wind power projects being carried out as part of Saudi Arabia’s clean energy transformation, Yamamah explains. This is part of Saudi Vision 2030.

"The new facility will be built in Yanbu Industrial City on the Red Sea coast and is expected to create 200 new jobs. We have been in the steel business for 25 years and we know closely all the wind energy OEM companies,” Al Yamamah Steel Industries chief executive officer Yousef Bazaid tells Kallanish.

The company has an annual production capacity of 290,000 tonnes of welded pipe and hollow sections spread over two sites in Dammam and Jeddah. It also has a 72.5% stake in 600,000 t/year re-roller Al-Yamamah Company for Reinforcing Steel Bars. The company's board approved a pipe-making capacity increase to 360,000 t/y in February.