CAIRO: Egypt's Ministry of Electricity said this week that it will add, through various projects, an estimated 2,660 MW of electricity generation capacity to its national grid by the end of 2010. The ministry also said it has finalized the planning process for Egypt's first nuclear power plant in Al-Dabaa. This comes in the wake of growing discontent over sporadic power outages that took place over several days in parts of Cairo and Upper Egypt, to which the government says it has stepped up efforts to develop Egypt's energy sources. Energy Minister Hassan Younes reportedly ordered suspending electricity export at the peak hours in which local consumption increases. He also said in a statement that they are addressing the problems of repeated power outages in some areas, outlining energy projects to be completed by the end of the year. Operation of the Kuraymat Solar Thermal Power Plant — the first of its kind in Egypt — has begun. Generating 140 MW of electricity, it will be linked to the national grid by the end of this year. In the statement, Younes added that in the next few days a steam plant in Nubaria with a capacity of 250 MW will be completed, as well as the operation of a sixth unit of Aswan's High Dam turbines adding 175 MW to the grid. This is in addition to the seventh unit of the West Cairo power plant, with the capacity of 350 MW, set to enter the grid during the second week of November, as well as the full operation of the 120 MW wind farm in Zaafarana. “This is an effort to meet the increasing demand for energy and deal with the recent power outages,” Younis said in the statement. The main goal, he said, is to diversify sources of energy generation. According to the energy ministry, during fiscal year 2008/2009, it was a challenge for the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company to meet the growth in electricity demand; the peak demand reached 21330 MW and energy generated 131040 GWh. Going nuclear Egypt plans to generate 20 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2020. In 2007, Egypt announced it will build several nuclear power stations, relaunching a nuclear program frozen more than 20 years ago. In a paper that assesses the economic feasibility of nuclear power generation in Egypt, published by the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies, industrial economist Tarek Selim, finds that “nuclear technology is economically feasible and is forecasted to generate a progressive share of electricity in Egypt.” Based on LWR (light water reactor) nuclear technology, Selim predicts that six nuclear plants are required by 2050, “with a time schedule of shared power generation with respect to total countrywide electricity supply equivalent to 4 percent in 2017, 10 percent in 2025, 12 percent in 2030 and 15 percent by 2050.” Selim cites the overall, expected per-capita electricity demand growth to be 4-5 percent per annum until 2025 adding that this corresponds to a supply capacity or stock increases of 8 to 9 percent annually, making nuclear expansion crucial. According to Al-Ahram, the state run daily, the ministry plans to launch an international tender in two months to build Egypt's first nuclear plant, after obtaining the permit for the location. Al-Dabaa, on Egypt's northwest coast, was chosen as the location for the plant by President Hosni Mubarak. Younes said that the president was sure that construction of the plant will not pose any harm to the surrounding residential and touristic facilities. The decision has led to debate about Egypt's future energy concerns, mainly which type of energy source the government should focus on. Although nuclear energy is more rewarding in terms of output, Sara El Sayed from the Wadi Environmental Science Center previously told Daily News Egypt that due to favorable conditions in solar and wind energy, renewable energy could potentially be a main source of electricity for the country. El-Sayed explained that due to the way maintenance procedures are conducted, unethical businesses practices and failure to deal with crises in this country, there are many dangers to running nuclear energy plants. Selim on the other hand argued that nuclear energy should be instrumental, in a mix of energy sources that would produce a minimum of 15 percent of alternative energy generation by 2030. According to Selim, 10 percent of this would be from nuclear plants and 5 percent would be from a combination of wind, hydro and solar renewable energy sources. Justifying the reason for nuclear energy as an alternative source, Selim said that from an economic feasibility perspective, “a nuclear plant that would have a total cost (including enriching uranium and running costs) of $4 billion (in 2007 prices) could generate 1000 MW of electricity, which is a very high return when compared to thermal plants that rely on precious reserves of natural gas.” He added that an energy plan that relies on renewable and nuclear energy is less polluting than natural gas sources, and that using these alternative sources would “free up crucial reserves natural gas for export and for use by future generations.”
