General Electric Power (GE Power), announced on Tuesday that it won a contract to deliver the turbine island equipment for the El Dabaa nuclear power plant project in Egypt.
GE Power will supply the basic design of four conventional islands, supply four nuclear turbine generator sets, including the Arabelle half-speed steam turbines, and provide technical expertise for the on-site installation, and commissioning.
“As Egypt works to diversify its energy production and to support its growing economy, the El Dabaa nuclear power plant, equipped with GE Power’s Arabelle technology, will help Egypt deliver on their ambitious goals,” said Andreas Lusch, CEO of GE’s Steam Power.
“Today, the Arabelle is helping to deliver more than 20 GW of power around the world, and we will leverage this experience and know-how to deliver reliable, dependable, and CO2-free energy to the Egyptian grid,” Lusch added.
Electricity demand in Egypt has increased rapidly as a result of their growing population, and increasing industrial activity, according to Tuesday’s statement, adding that it’s estimated that an additional 1.5GW of new capacity will be needed each year, which is a 6% increase year over year until 2022.
To support this increasing demand without blackouts, Egypt has an ambitious energy plan which includes diversifying its installed base, noted the statement, adding that the El Dabaa nuclear power plant will help deliver on that plan, by stabilising the Egyptian grid with dependable, CO2-free energy, and having a predictable low electricity cost.
Once in operation, El Dabaa will produce 4.8GW—enough to power up more than 4m homes in Egypt, noted the statement.
The Arabelle steam turbine has been in operation for the past 18 years, and still holds the world power output record, said the statement, adding, “this unique technology, adaptable to all reactor types, produces 2% more power output than the traditional configurations. The French fleet of Arabelle has a demonstrated reliability rate of 99,96% over more than 400,000 operating hours.”
The El Dabaa project builds on GE Power’s support of the development of Egypt’s energy sector for more than 40 years, which includes delivering up to 16 GW to the Egyptian grid, said the statement.
Recently, GE Power completed building and connecting the Badr substation in Egypt to the national grid. The new 500-220 kV gas insulated substation, will dispatch 1.5 GW of electricity, and play a strategic role in the upcoming Egypt-Saudi Arabia Interconnection Project, linking the national grids of both countries with a 1,300km transmission line.
Globally, GE Power’s Steam Power business is a technology leader in the nuclear steam turbine industry. Today, 50% of the world’s nuclear power plants in operation are equipped with a GE steam turbine, which are able to generate more than 200 GW of CO2-free, reliable energy.
