Egypt's power supply gets an encouraging boost

On June 3, German industrial conglomerate Siemens agreed a deal to supply gas and wind power plants that will add 50% − or 16.4 GW − to Egypt's national grid.

The deal, described as the single biggest order in Siemens' 168-year history, was signed during a visit by Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to Germany, and follows on the back of memorandums of understanding (MoUs) signed in March at the Egypt Economic Development Conference in Sharm El Sheikh. It includes the supply of 24 H-Class gas turbines for power plants that are scheduled to come on-stream in phases, starting in the summer of 2017.

Two of the plants, worth €1.6bn ($1.8bn), are to be constructed by a consortium of Siemens and Egypt-based conglomerate Orascom Construction, with a total generation capacity of 9.6 GW.

In line with efforts by the government to increase renewable contributions to the energy supply to 20% of the total, the Siemens deal also includes around 600 wind turbines for 12 wind farms in the Gulf of Suez in the northern Red Sea. The farms are expected to have a total installed capacity of 2 GW.