Egypt is witnessing an “overflow” in electricity production, although not all power plants in an urgent plan to curb the country’s energy crisis have operated, a Tuesday presidential statement quoted Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker.
President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi held a meeting with Shaker to follow up on the country’s power needs, according to a presidential press statement released Monday. Summer 2015 has not witnessed as many power cuts as in previous years.
Sisi praised the “unprecedented regulation of services” despite of increasing demand of power.
Electricity consumption during the peak period in Ramadan (sunset to sunrise) is expected to reach 28,000 megawatts, Electricity Ministry spokesperson Mohamed Al-Yamani told Youm7 June 20.
“The minister presented the latest power deals, including the contract between the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company and Siemens to establish, supply and install three combined cycle power plants, with capacity of 14,400 megawatts by May 2018,” Youssef said.
Shaker said the Siemens deal will not only contribute to fulfilling the citizens’ needs for power, but will also provide investment projects with their needs, including development projects at Suez Canal.
In March, Shaker signed deals worth $10 billion with the German Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Sigmar Gabriel and Siemens representative Lisa Davis, according to a statement by the Egyptian Ministry of Electricity.
The deals were on the sidelines of the three-day Egypt Economic Development Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh in March.
Rolling blackouts in Egypt have become routine in the past few years, especially during the peak usage season in the summer, a crisis largely attributed to fuel shortages.
Egyptian government are making efforts to tackle the country’s energy crisis, in which rolling power cuts in the summer have become routine since the January 25 Revolution in 2011, caused by fuel shortfalls at power plants and increasing demand.
Officials at the Electricity Ministry told Youm7 that 2,100 megawatts have been added to the national grid during the past 5 months.
To procure energy for running power plants for this summer, Egypt has recently contracted with five foreign companies to import 90 shipments of fuel, 45 of which are scheduled to be delivered in 2015 and 2016.
