The Suez Cement company's factory in Suez will begin using coal next November, while two of its other factories in Tora and Helwan will start in two years, CEO Omar Mehanna said. "We will begin using coal to generate energy for cement production cement in our Katameya factory by the end of this month in order to produce 3m tons per year," he said. "The investment cost for factories to operate is valued at EGP 500m. One million BTUs of coal costs $6, compared to $17 for the same quantity of imported natural gas," he added. He added that Suez Cement owns 18% of local cement sales. Italgen, a subsidiary of global cement producer Italcementi Group, is in the process of acquiring the permits for the second phase for its wind energy park, Giuseppe De Beni, managing director of Italgen told Daily News Egypt. In June 2013, the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company signed a contract with Italgen to produce electricity from wind energy. The contract allowed Italgen to be the first private investor to enter the Egyptian National Grid, a wind energy park in the area of Gulf El-Zeit. De Beni said the first phase of the project will be completed by the end of the year. The investment in the project's first phase amounts to €120-130m. It will equal an installed capacity of 120 MW, and is expected to cover around 40% of Suez Cement's power needs. After the completion of the second phase, electrical energy is estimated to reach a capacity of 400 MW. "We could be in operation by 2017," De Beni said.
