Siemens is set to add 1,200MW to the national electricity grid by the end of May from power plants in the New Administrative Capital and Borollos. Sources at the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) said that, according to an agreement with Siemens and Orascom, the New Administrative Capital power plant will add 400MW by the end of March, in addition to 800MW to be added from the Borollos power plant in the end of May. The sheer capacity spanning Siemens' three projects in Beni Suef, the New Administrative Capital, and Borollos that will be added before summer amounts to 6,000MW; where 4,800MW have already been linked to the grid pending commercial operation. The source told Daily News Egypt that a total of 44,000MW should be secured for the national grid after adding Siemens' capacities and completing the maintenance procedures, noting that expected consumption is at 30,000MW. Moreover, EEHC agreed with the Ministry of Petroleum to provide the necessary quantities of fuel to feed the three power plants from the first day of commercial operations. The source pointed out that the ministry will not manage to operate power plants without the fuel. This comes within the framework of the ministry's strategy to diversify its sources of production, which requires stations to run on natural gas and fuel oil, along with renewable sources. Project manager at Siemens, Sherif Kotb said that Siemens and the ministry agreed on a timetable, to which the company abided in cooperation with local partners and managed to overcome the obstacles it faced over the past 19 months. He explained that the company began to implement the second phase of the project before the inauguration of the first few days. Sources at the Ministry of Electricity told Daily News Egypt that the first phase of the three projects will add a total of 4,800MW to the national grid, including 2,400MW from six production units in Beni Suef, 1,600MW from four production units in Borollos, and 800MW from two production units at the New Administrative Capital.
