Four power generation projects worth some $7.2 billion were inaugurated by President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi on Tuesday. The projects include three electricity plants built by German conglomerate Siemens in Beni Sweif, Borollos and the New Administrative Capital, with a total capacity of 14.4 Gigawatts. Al-Sewidi Electric was the main contractor of the Beni Sweif power plant. Orascom Construction was in charge of the Borollos and New Administrative Capital projects. The president also inaugurated the wind power plant at Gabal Al-Zeit on the Red Sea which consists of three interlinked projects producing 580 megawatts from 390 wind turbines. Egypt has targeted 20 per cent of all electricity consumption to be generated from renewable sources by 2022. Mohamed Erfan, head of the Administrative Control Authority (ACA) who was present at the inauguration, says several new power plants have been brought online since 2014 “leading to a surplus of electricity capacity by 25 per cent”. Erfan highlighted the government's intention to increase reliance on renewable energy as well as to develop nuclear power and coal production, and underlined the LE22.5 billion upgrade of the national grid to cope with increased loads. Egypt suffered recurrent power outages that peaked in 2014. Speaking at the inauguration, Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker said that investments in the electricity sector had reached more than LE515 billion since 2014. Presidential Spokesman Bassam Radi said the new plants will boost power production by 50 per cent and had a combined capacity eight times that of the High Dam. “The inaugurated projects will transform Egypt into a regional power hub and allow us to export electricity to neighbouring countries,” said Radi. Excess electricity generated by the plants will help supply planned interconnection projects with Sudan, Cyprus, Greece and Saudi Arabia, says Electricity Ministry Spokesman Ayman Hamza. The interconnection projects are scheduled to be complete by 2021.
