China’s Sepco 3 says Saudi private developer Acwa Power on 24 November awarded it an EPC contract for the Luxor independent power producer (IPP) project on the River Nile. The plant will incorporate combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) technology and will have total installed capacity of 2.389GW. The main fuel will be natural gas, with diesel as back-up.

Luxor, in the south of Egypt, has historically been supplied with electricity by the Aswan dam, but state gas firm Egas is extending its gas grid southwards following an upstream gas revival. Electricity grid operator EETC signed a power purchase agreement with Acwa in November 2018, when it expected the project to cost $2.3bn and start-up in two stages in 2022 and 2023 (MEES, 9 November 2018). State generator EEHC has since rescheduled Luxor CCGT start-up for 2024 (MEES, 23 October). (CONTINUED - 131 WORDS)