The Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) has started the procedures to contract on projects to expand and develop electricity transmission across the country. This followed the obtainment of the first portion of the loan, which was signed for with Banque Misr and the National Bank of Egypt (NBE). Sources at the EEHC said that an agreement was made with the two aforementioned banks to obtain EGP 1.5bn by the end of October—a portion of the loan estimated at EGP 37.4bn—in order to contract on the tasks to be carried out by the company, including the provision of cables, wires, and lines, as well as the paying of the company dues that EEHC contracted with to establish transmitters and develop distribution companies. The source said that the EEHC and Egyptian Electricity Transmission Co. (EETC) received a total of EGP 1.3bn from the loan and paid the approved payments to the companies contracted to supply smart metres and those that implemented the parallel electric grid. He also explained that the government contracted with a number of companies to supply transformer stations, kiosks, low- and medium-voltage plates, wires, cables, and lines, noting that other tenders will be offered to complete the supply of the other electrical equipment needed by the EETC and the transmission companies across the republic. Moreover, the sources said that EETC's plan to expand the network costs EGP 18bn, which includes the cost of expansion and establishment of 15 220/500 kV plants at a cost of EGP 5.5bn and the establishment of 2,000 kilometres of 500 kV lines at a cost of EGP 7.4bn. The plan also includes the addition of high-voltage transformer substations at a cost of EGP 394m, and the construction of four 66/220 kV stations at a cost of EGP 780m and three 66/220 kV mobile stations at a cost of EGP 87m. According to the plan, 26 175 MVA transformers will be added at a cost of EGP 414m, next to 26 125 MVA transformers at a cost of EGP 128m and 100 40 MVA transformers at a cost of EGP 400m. New 66/220 kV cells will be added at a cost of EGP 380m, in addition to the establishment and renovation of 20 lines and cables of 220 kV at a cost of EGP 1.9bn, next to establishing and renovating 15 lines and cables of 66 kV at a cost of EGP 394m. The sources said that the distribution networks will be developed and expanded in two stages at a cost of EGP 19.4bn. The plan includes the development of transformers, kiosks and medium- and low-voltage switchboards, where 9,152 transformers, 5,455 kiosks, 2,337 medium-voltage panels, 3,555 low-voltage panels, and 2,089 medium-voltage switches will be implemented. The government will also contract for 400 voltage regulators, 100 automatic reconnectors, and 539 medium-voltage cells. According to the EEHC, the plan for developing the performance of distributors and controls and emergency equipment includes establishing 99 electricity distributors, 4 emergency equipment, and an excavator. Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker said that the plan is the result of the effective support of the political leadership to develop the electricity sector and help it overcome the challenges it faced during the last period and achieve stability of the national network and cover the gap between production and demand for electricity to eventually turn the deficit into surplus. He added that the plan is a continuation of the success achieved by the sector by adding 6,882 MW by the end of 2015, of which about 3,632 MW came from the urgent plan, in addition to 3,250 MW by completing the implementation of electricity production projects from the five-year plan stations.
