Siemens has placed the first turbines at the Beni Suef power plant in Egypt, which is set to be the world’s biggest gas-fired combined-cycle complex when completed.
Four H-class 400 megawatt (MW) gas turbines arrived, and two have already been placed on their foundations alongside six 500 kilovolt (kV) generator transformers, the German engineering giant said.
Around 4,000 skilled Egyptian workers are currently working at the construction site. The power plant is set to have a capacity of 4.8 gigawatts once completed, providing electricity for 15 million people
Situated around 110 kilometers south of Cairo, the Beni Suef plant will start supplying its first electricity to the national energy grid as early as this winter. To achieve that, it will initially be operated in so-called “simple cycle mode”, Siemens said. By subsequently adding heat exchangers and steam turbines it will be expanded into combined cycle mode reaching a total installed capacity of 4.8 gigawatts (GW).
With its local partners, Siemens has plans to build a total of three natural gas-fired combined cycle power plants in Egypt, with a total capacity of 14.4 GW.
“Egypt’s Sustainable Development Strategy outlines the need to provide affordable, reliable and modern energy services, boost energy efficiency and diversify the country’s energy mix,” said Willi Meixner, CEO of the Siemens Division Power & Gas. “We are proud to be part of this vision and to celebrate another step towards its realization today. Thanks to innovative technology, our energy projects in Egypt are set to transform the power landscape – we are setting the basis for industrial growth and job creation. On top of it, the world class efficiency of our turbines result in more than $1 billion in fuel savings annually.”