Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi inaugurated Tuesday three giant power plants carried out by the German company, Siemens, at a cost of six billion euros.
The projects were implemented in the New Administrative Capital, Beni Suef, and Burullus with a total capacity of 14400 megawatts, or about 50 percent of the electricity grid, in addition to the world’s biggest Gabal al-Zeit wind station.
The wind power plant in Gabal El-Zeit consists of three projects, including 390 wind turbines, with a capacity of 580 megawatts (MW).
The second phase of a 220-megawatt wind power plant was also inaugurated Tuesday, a project undertaken in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
“The launching of these projects supports the current stability in Egypt at the security and economic levels, especially that the power cuts were a key factor behind massive street protests that led to the July 2013 ouster of Egypt's Islamist president Mohamed Morsi,” observers told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Sisi, who was elected President a year later, vowed to end power shortages, especially after blackouts in the summer of 2014 amid high demand for cooling in the sweltering heat.
“I take the opportunity to remember year 2014 and how we reacted to the electricity crisis in Egypt,” Sisi said during the inauguration ceremony.
Notably, each of the stations operates on eight gas turbines and four steam turbines, and each can produce 4,800 megawatts of electricity, according to a video presentation at the ceremony in the new city.
The President said that the projects in electricity sector will meet Egypt’s need for 10 to 15 years.
He affirmed in his speech that the economic reforms will reach 100 percent, clarifying that work is ongoing at the highest levels.
Sisi added that one sector has been restructured and prepared, stressing that in order to reach the developed countries' level, the sector needs $100 billion. He pointed out that the cost of Dabaa station reached LE 1 trillion.
Dabaa station is the first nuclear plant in Egypt that will be built by Russia within seven years in Matrouh governorate, northwest of Cairo, with a capacity of 4,800 megawatts.
Electricity Minister Mohammed Shaker, for his part, explained that the stations, built by Siemens company, include "the largest air-cooled station in the world.”
He said they would save the country one billion dollars a year in fuel bills.
Also, Head of Egypt's Administrative Control Authority Mohamed Erfan said that those projects "achieved an electricity production surplus of 25 percent, which will contribute to securing future electricity needs across the country in addition to exporting a portion of it”.
