Egypt's interim President Adly Mansour approved on Sunday the $190 million loan agreement recently signed between the Ministry of Electricity and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). As a prelude to a Cabinet's endorsement, Mansour had issued a presidential decree on Sunday to give a nod on EBRD's loan agreement to finance the Shabab and the West Damietta power plants. Last March 31, the Egyptian Ministry of Electricity took out a $190 m loan with the EBRD to finance the Shabab and the West Damietta power plants. In order to increase energy production capacity to 2,250 MW, the two power stations will be converted to operate with a combined-cycle system, Minister of Electricity and Energy Mohamed Hamed Shaker said during signing the agreement. Shaker said two steam turbines will be attached to the Shabab plant and one steam turbine will be attached to the West Damietta plate. The turbines, which each have a 250MW capacity, will operate through energy recovery boilers. The project is part of the ministry's plan to increase the capacities of local power plants without using additional fuel, he added. The two power plants, which will start operating in the first quarter of 2017, will be connected to the national grid, Shaker said. Work on the project started mid-February. The Shabab plant is comprised of eight gas units, with a capacity of 125 MW each, and four steam units with a total capacity of 500 MW. The west Damietta plant is comprised of four gas units, also with a capacity of 125 MW each, and steam units with a total capacity of 250 MW. The total investment cost of the project amounts to $900m, Shaker said. A number of private investors have pitched in, including the European Investment Bank, the Saudi Fund for Development, the Islamic Development Bank, and East Delta Electricity Production Company. The EBRD invested a total of €203 million into about six Egyptian projects in 2013, said Hildegard Gacek, the bank's managing director for the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean region, in February.
