Egypt is considering two offers from Blackstone Group and Edra Power Holdings of Malaysia to buy three power plants co-built by Siemens AG in Beni Suef, Borolos, and the New Administrative Capital (NAC), with a capacity of 14,400MW. Government sources told Daily News Egypt that the ministerial committee, formed in accordance with the decision of the prime minister no 605 for 2019, received the purchase offers from Blackstone and Edra Power on Monday. The sources said the committee still discusses the offers and will announce its final decision by the end of next month. The sources suggested that the committee may approve the selling of the three plants or only one of them, especially that Egypt has achieved a high surplus in electricity production with reserves up to 20GW per day. A senior official at the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) said that the sale of Siemens power plants would not affect the country's production, especially since the electricity grid is stable and has enough reserves. He added that Egypt's electricity production reserves will reach 6GW in case of selling the Siemens plants, which will also increase after operating the remaining units in the South Helwan Power Plant, the Gulf of Suez wind farms, and the solar energy projects in Benban, Aswan, to 9GW per day. Moreover, the official said that the financial burdens on the electricity sector resulting from loans may force the concerned committee to approve the sale of the Siemens plants, especially in the light of the current low demand on energy which pushes the ministry to suspend some stations while paying loan instalments. One the bidding companies offered to pay the building expenses of the plants of €6.3bn to the EEHC, and would sign an agreement to sell the produced electricity, the source said. Emad Ghaly, CEO of Siemens Egypt, which is operating the three combined-cycle plants under an eight-year contract, said that power purchase agreements between utilities and private power companies or investors are common worldwide. He asserted his firm is committed to operating and maintaining them until 2024.
