Keeping Electricity Flowing in Egypt Through Financing and Technology

Eni
The Zohr Gas Field situated in the Mediterranean Sea, off the Egyptian coast. Baker Hughes, a GE company, was awarded a major subsea contract from Petrobel--a joint venture between IEOC (an Eni subsidiary in Egypt) and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC)--for phase two of the development of the natural gas field.
11 September 2017
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GE Africa (Lagos)

Ensuring that 7 gigawatts (GW) of electricity supply stays connected in Egypt requires not only power plants and transmission lines, but also less obvious factors such as advanced substations and financing. An ongoing GE project exemplifies the role these less obvious elements play.

In this case, GE Grid Solutions is providing four gas-insulated substations that are critical elements of the power system that will help connect electricity to more than 6.5 million Egyptian homes. GE recently announced the financial close of the deal that is financing the project.

Already, the first of the substations is operational, while the remaining three are scheduled to be supporting Egypt's power grid by the end of 2018.

The fast work to secure the financing – which helps ensure smooth execution and operation for the project – delivers a big boost to Egypt's economy and this project comes at a crucial time to avoid bottlenecks in energy transmission and distribution.

This agreement is also creating 40 direct jobs for Egyptians, as well as 320 indirect employment opportunities.

As part of the substation contract, GE Grid Solutions also is supplying a digital data protection system, network management system and telecommunication technologies that will help connect the substations to the National Energy Control Center and improve the network's stability.

GE Working with Egypt on Power, Natural Gas and Solar Projects

GE Working with Egypt on Power, Natural Gas and Solar Projects

GE Grid Solutions is providing four gas-insulated substations that are critical elements of the power system that will help connect electricity to more than 6.5 million Egyptian homes. GE will be building in Egypt a 50MW solar farm, the company's first turnkey solar power plant project anywhere in the world. The extensive, complex deepwater infrastructure needed to extract natural gas from Egypt's Zohr gas field in the Mediterranian sea was awarded to Baker Hughes, a GE company. More about GE in Africa in this BRIEFING. 

The installation of the GE substations also will offer several solutions for Egypt's grid, including smarter networks, condition-based maintenance, and greater load control to prevent outages.

"We are proud to extend our 30-year partnership with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company(EETC) through this project, which supports the Egyptian national grid with our latest technologies," said Ayman Khattab, President & CEO for GE North East Africa.

The financial closure for the contract worth approximately $250 million was signed by GE with EETC and financed through Deutsche Bank AG and HSBC France.

With more than 140 advanced gas turbines installed in Egypt, GE helps generate more than 15.5 GW of electricity in the country – enough to power more than 15 million Egyptian homes.

Learn more about GE in Egypt here, and for more on GE Grid Solutions and more broadly GE's power operations in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, follow this link.

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