The Ministry of Electricity is in negotiations with four international banking institutions to provide the necessary funding for the construction studies of two pumped-storage hydroelectricity (PSH) projects in Luxor and Qena.
Ministry sources told Daily News Egypt that the ministry’s officials have been in talks with the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the German KfW, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and European Investment Bank (EIB) to finance the detailed field studies required for the two sites.
The sources pointed out that the location of North Luxor accommodates the construction of a PSH project with a capacity of 2,000 MW, and $2.4bn in investments, while the site in Armant, Qena can support a capacity of 2,000 MW at a cost of $2.5bn.
The sources also said that the ministry is seeking to reach a funding agreement with one of the banks, to initiate the studies during the first half of next year, especially as it included PSH projects within its future strategy, to increase renewable energy production.
Moreover, they explained that, the PSH endeavours that will be implemented using top-notch electricity storage technology will have many benefits, especially in terms of network operation costs, and storage safety factors for solar and wind power, as well as power grid stability.
Additionally, the sources said that these enterprises will contribute to strengthening the unified electricity network, and will be used to store electricity produced from renewable energy sources.
Consequently, the reliability of renewable sources as a supply for electric power would increase, and the water produced from the wastewater plants in both governorates will be treated, then used to power the turbines.
