AN IRISH energy company has won a €100 million-plus contract to supply a heating, cooling and power system to a commercial development in Saudi Arabia.
CES Energy confirmed yesterday that it had won a contract from a local developer, the Adeem Al-Wayaniya Group, to supply a heating, cooling and power system to a 52-storey block that the company is building in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The new building, known as “the headquarters”, will be home to the main offices of Saudi and multinational companies, as well as a hotel.
According to the Irish company’s managing director, Tom Marren, the deal is worth $150 million (€101 million). Under its terms, CES will design and install the equipment that will produce the electricity needed by the building, and run its heating and cooling systems. It will then be paid for the services over a 20-year period.
Mr Marren said that most of the design and engineering work would be done from its Irish offices in Dublin. He said the company would need to hire 10 extra engineering and project management staff in its Irish base as a result of the Saudi deal.
CES has operations in Ireland and Europe, and sold a business in Australia last year in a deal estimated to be worth about $30 million Australian dollars.
The company supplies combined heat and power systems for large commercial and industrial buildings.
Their systems generate power, and supply heating and air conditioning, and are designed to limit carbon emissions and boost energy efficiency.
It is also involved in a joint venture with construction group Sisk and State company Coillte to develop biomass systems – the use of wood pulp and other crops to generate electricity.
Mr Marren said he is hoping that the headquarters contract will be the first of several more that it is hoping to win over the next few months.
He added that the company first set out to break into the Saudi Arabian market 18 months ago. “You have to build up relationships first, and that takes time, but once you do, the market here is huge,” he said.
The Adeem Al-Wayaniya Group is a leading construction and development group.
The company’s building revenues come to around $40 billion a-year.
Mr Marren said yesterday that Saudi Arabia’s large young population and its wealth meant that construction growth there was likely to continue.
