The Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) has signed a $757m loan contract with the Export-Import Bank of China to finance the establishment of 1,210 km-long electricity lines.
Sources in the Electricity Ministry said that Chinese State Grid has begun the implementation of the lines in several locations, and has obtained the advance in the contract. The government guarantee agreement for the loan will be signed within a few days.
The Chinese company is handling the implementation of the project according to the EBC+ Finance system which includes establishing the project, its design, and implementation, as well as the collection of funds from banks. The Ministry of Electricity will handle the repayment of the loan to financing agencies.
The Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy has allocated EGP 11.4bn to support the unified grid for electricity transmission in order to cope with the anticipated overload in summer 2017.
The sources explained that contracting the establishment of three transmission stations has been completed, in addition to three mobile stations with a 220 kilovolt capacity worth $41m, in addition to EGP 330m in local components.
Cables will be established with capacities of 220 kilovolts, worth $22.1m, with local components worth EGP 1.5bn. This is in addition to 26 transmitters with a capacity of 175 megavolt amperes, at a cost of $39m, and EGP 24m in local components, plus 12 transmitters with 125 megavolt amperes worth $12m, and EGP 8m in local components.
The EETC has also contracted for establishing 100 transmitters with a 40-megavolt-ampere capacity worth EGP 400m, in addition to cells and cables of a 66-kilovolt capacity with investments worth $55m, and EGP 335m in local components.
According to sources, the EETC is working on supporting the electricity grid through establishing new lines and replacing older ones, as well as enhancing the lines’ quality through the use of new paths. Contracting was completed for cables with 66 kilovolt capacities to expand the grid by 57km and replace connectors with capacities of 330 kilovolt, in addition to expanding through the establishment of 30 cells to be installed in the transmitters.
