RIYADH: State-owned Saudi Electricity Co. has announced that it intends to allocate between SR30 billion ($8 billion) and SR35 billion for its 2023 capital expenditure, according to the company’s 2022 financial presentation. This is at least 10 percent higher than the electric power distribution firm’s 2022 capex which stood at SR27.4 billion. Even though SEC did not provide a clear breakdown of the allocated amount, it is projected that expenditure in transmission and distribution infrastructure will be a priority considering that they dominated the firm’s capital expenditure for the past three years. In addition to this, SEC shed light on plans to further grow and expand its fleet, develop its distribution as well as transmission pipelines, and potentially achieve 23 percent automation within its distribution grid. Between 2021 and 2022, the firm experienced a 0.6 percent surge in generation capacity from 83,036 MW to 83,539 MW. Similarly, total load also rose 1.8 percent in the same period to reach 65,301 MW in 2022, up from 64,161 in 2021. On the other hand, the energy produced increased 2.6 percent to hit 191,964 GW in 2022, up from 168,985 GW a year earlier. Meanwhile, SEC’s fuel consumption hit 348 million barrels of oil equivalent, or mmboe, per day in 2022, reflecting an 8.1 percent boost compared to 2021’s 332 mmboe a day. As for the total number of substations, they rose to reach 1,209 in 2022 in comparison to the 1,190 reported back in 2021. Consequently, this accounted for a 2.8 percent increase in transformers’ capacity. With regard to the number of registered customers, the company registered a 4 percent jump to reach 10.9 million in 2022, up from 10.5 million in 2021. Established in 2000, SEC has monopolized generation, transmission and distribution of electric power in the Kingdom through 45 power generation plants in the country. The firm’s vision revolves around achieving integration of the environment, economy and social issues into the firm’s corporate cultural and economic values in order to accomplish the greater objectives of sustainable development.