Egypt is tapping the finance market for loans to support an electricity sector investment program, that could see more than 20GW of new mainly gas-fired generating capacity added by the end of 2020, and almost 40GW of capacity incorporating a variety of energy sources in the longer term.
The biggest single component of Egypt’s electricity expansion plan to date is an €8bn ($8.55bn) contract awarded to Germany’s Siemens, for gas-fired and wind turbines with a combined capacity of 16.4GW, equivalent to more than half of the country’s end-2014 generating capacity of 31.45GW. The Siemens gas-fired turbines will be installed in three 4.8GW combined cycle gas-turbine (CCGT) plants, at Beni Suef, Burullus and a planned new capital city 45km east of Cairo. These will be built by Egyptian firms Elsewedy Electric and Orascom Construction for start-up during 2017-20. Each plant will comprise eight 600MW units. (CONTINUED - 686 WORDS)
