GE unit wins $500 million Saudi power contract

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CHICAGO, May 29 (Reuters) - General Electric Co (GE.N) said on Thursday that its GE Energy unit had won $500 million in contracts to supply gas turbines and generators to various power plants owned by the Saudi Electricity Co 5110.SE

SEC is the leading electricity supplier in Saudi Arabia, where GE says demand for power is growing 8 percent annually.

Saudi Arabia is one the fastest-growing markets for GE's power and water, transportation and health-care products.

GE, the second-largest U.S. company by market capitalization, is also a member of one of four groups vying for a 30-year, $5 billion contract to build and operate a 1,100 km

(685 mile) railway across the Saudi desert. The project is one of many that Saudi Arabia is engaged in to develop its infrastructure, tourism and industry as it enjoys an economic boom powered by a quadrupling of oil prices in the past six years.

A winner for the rail project is expected next month.

(Reporting by James B. Kelleher; Editing by Gary Hill)

((james.kelleher@thomsonreuters.com; +1 312 408 8130; Reuters Messaging: james.kelleher.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: GE SAUDI/ORDER

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