Siemens-built Egyptian power plants ‘to begin production in December’
Total generation capacity of 14,400 megawatts across three plants to go online by May 2018
Production at power plants being built in Egypt by Siemens is set to start in December, according to a Reuters report.
The Egyptian prime minister’s office said that the power project will reach full capacity in May 2018, the news agency reported.
Under an $8.9 billion deal signed with the Egyptian government in June 2015, the German engineering heavyweight is building three combined-cycle power plants with a capacity of 4,800 megawatts each, plus 12 wind farms.
The Siemens projects are designed to boost the country’s electricity generation by 50%. A group of banks had agreed to supply credit for the Beni Suef gas-fired combined cycle power plant, the first of the three new plants, in November 2015.
While a total capacity of 4,440 megawatts will go online in December, the three plants will be operating at their combined full capacity of 14,400 megawatts by May 2018, the prime minister’s office said in a statement.
Egypt is going through its worst energy crisis in decades, Reuters added, with power cuts common as its ageing state-run infrastructure struggles to handle the rapidly growing demand for electricity in a country of 87 million people.
