Saudi SEC awards $64 mln electricity contract

* India's KEC Intl, Al-Sharif Group awarded contract

* Contract to install 380 KV transmission line

* To be completed in 30 months

RIYADH, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Saudi Electricity 5110.SE has awarded a 241 million riyals ($64 million) contract to install a power transmission line north of Riyadh as part of plans to meet surging power demand in the Middle East's biggest economy.

Saudi Electricity, the Gulf's largest power utility by market value, said on Tuesday it awarded the contract to a consortium that include India's KEC International Ltd (KECL.BO) and Al-Sharif Group.

The state-controlled company did not disclose the share of each company in the contract, which covers installing a 380 kilovolt (KV) transmission line and would be completed in 30 months.

Saudi Arabia is facing rapid power demand growth as it builds infrastructure and heavy industry it hopes would diversify its economy away from dependence on oil.

Demand is growing at around 7-8 percent per year.

Saudi Electricity, which produces around 37,000 megawatts, plans to spend $80 billion to add a total of 20,000 MW through 2018, plus $20 billion on Independent Power Producer (IPP) projects to add more than 10,000 MW of capacity.

Around $46 billion of the total investment would be spent on power generation, $30 billion on transmission and $20 billion on distribution. [ID:nLQ174931]

(Reporting by Reem Shamseddine, Editing by Tiisetso Motsoeneng)