Egypt signs $600m EIB power plant deal

Egypt recently signed a $600 million agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) for a 1,800 MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant project in Damanhour, 150 km northwest of Cairo.

The new power plant will be gas-fired and will consist of two units with a generating capacity of 900 MWe each, together providing a total new capacity of 1800 MWe. The new units will use combined cycle gas turbine technology, which is highly efficient (57.7% thermal efficiency) and has lower emissions.

The proposed plant is to be located on vacant land which is part of an existing power plant with old units which use gas or oil as fuel. Three 65MWe units which have been in service for more than 40 years and are at the end of their service life will be decommissioned in 2015 and are to be demolished. 

Combined Cycle Gas Turbines technology combines a gas-fired turbine with a steam turbine. In the case of Damanhour, each of the two units consists of 2 gas turbines which a capacity of 300 MWe each, i.e. a total of 600 MWe. The heat of the exhaust flue gases is then recovered through 2 heat recovery steam generators. This is then utilized to drive one steam turbine of 300 MWe capacity in each of the two units, thus giving each unit a total capacity of 900 MWe.

The project is likely to serve around 4 million citizens in Beheira governorate. The total cost of the plant is $1.3 billion, including $600 million from the European Investment Bank, $80 million from the African Development Bank (AfDB), $200 million from the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, and $240 million from the West Delta Electricity Company.

The proposed plant is expected to provide additional supply and reduce the current shortage of installed capacity by approximately 15-20%.