CAIRO – 1 November 2018: During his speech at the G20 informal investment summit, CEO and Chairperson of German electronics manufacturing Company Siemens, Joe Kaeser, stated that Egypt is developing infrastructure quicker than anywhere else.
In the presence of German companies and member countries of the Partnership with Africa initiative, the President cited the three Megaproject, noting its long-term partnership with Egypt. According to Kaeser, Egypt is Siemens’ second largest partner.
Kaeser spoke of the Megaproject, explaining how big it truly is and the impressive number of Egyptian companies participated in these projects, with about 1,200 Egyptian engineers having been trained in Germany.
In July, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi inaugurated three giant electricity plants, provided by Siemens, to produce electric power for 40 million citizens, in addition to the provision of power to companies and factories for many years to come.
“The plants will also provide Egypt with prosperity, flexibility and diversification, enabling the country to export energy to Europe and establish cooperative relations with Saudi Arabia,” Kaeser said during his speech in the inauguration of the megaprojects.
The projects are located in the New Administrative Capital, Beni Suef, and Burullus with a total capacity of 14,400 megawatts, or about 50% of the electricity grid.
Kaeser also pointed out in a television interview that Egypt is one of the top countries that witnessed high growth rates and developments in infrastructure, education and transport fields in the past four years.
In collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy, in accordance with Egypt’s overall plan to produce more new and renewable energy, Siemens and its consortium partners Orascom Construction and Elsewedy Electric have completed the energy Megaproject in just 27.5 months. Starting the expansion of the Egyptian power supply in June 2015, Siemens was able to quickly finish its largest ever order in Egypt.
The Mega city consists of three 4.8 gegawatt natural gas-fired combined-cycle power plans and 12 wind farms and will provide the energy needs for almost 40 million individuals living in Egypt (just over 40% of the population) and save some $1 billion for the country in fuel costs on a yearly basis. By the end of 2018, Egypt will be able to export its surplus electricity, CEO of Siemens Egypt Emad Ghaly previously stated.
“The plants will also provide Egypt with prosperity, flexibility and diversification, enabling the country to export energy to Europe and establish cooperative relations with Saudi Arabia,” Siemens president and CEO Kaeser said during his speech of the Megaproject’s inauguration.
“This is a new step towards achieving ambitious goals in 2020,” he stated.
“Each power plant has been equipped with eight SGT5-8000 H-class gas turbines, four steam turbines, 12 generators, eight Siemens heat recovery steam generators, 12 transformers and a 500kV gas-insulated switchgear,” according to an article published in Power Technology on July 25, 2018, titled, ‘Egypt’s combined-cycle power plant Megaproject successfully completed’. Another 12 combined cycle power plant blocks with a capacity of 1.2 gegawatts were also built and connected to the power grid, which also had six substations energized by Siemens to ensure higher flexibility of Egypt’s power grid.
By providing 14.4 gegawatts to the national grid, the Megaproject transforms the Egyptian power landscape, as was pointed out by Kaeser, “The record-breaking completion of our Megaproject in Egypt will not only transform the power landscape in Egypt but will also serve as a blueprint for building up power infrastructure in the Middle East and all over the world.”
“This Megaproject is also setting the benchmark for trustful and reliable cooperation with our customer and our partners. The leadership of President al Sisi and his team in this project has been remarkable.”
He continued, “We look forward to applying this unique performance model also to other countries in their efforts towards reliable, affordable and sustainable power systems.”
Building on this further, Proud Siemens Egypt CEO Ghaly said, “This is a major achievement for our country and our people. I am proud that the Siemens team was selected to contribute to this success. The plants will supply enough electricity for 45 million people and enable Egypt to achieve $1.3 billion in fuel savings on an annual basis. With these projects, we provide an essential contribution to stabilize both the energy supply and the economy in our country, which has an outstanding importance for the whole Middle East region and Africa.”
To ensure that the Megaproject remains up-to-date, is operated safely and maintained well, Siemens also trained 600 Egyptian engineers and technicians; additionally, 5,500 engineers and students were trained by Siemens as part of their giving back to the community deal with the Egyptian government.
“There will be more jobs, due to a flourishing of more industries and business, Egyptians will feel more fulfilled and comfortable. Communities who are confident of the reliability and abundance of their power supply will be transformed, empowering each citizen to dream, create and put ideas into action to participate in further transforming the country, the Middle East and the world,” further states the Siemens official website.
Thu, Nov. 1, 2018
