Siemens has marked a major construction milestone at Beni Suef project in Egypt with the placing of
two of the 400 megawatt (MW) turbines alongside six 500 kilovolt (kV) generator transformers on their foundations.

The German engineering major will be building a total of three natural gas-fired combined cycle power plants with a total capacity of 14.4 GW in Egypt.

On completion, the Beni Suef power plant in Egypt is set to become the world’s biggest gas-fired combined-cycle power plant complex.

Situated around 110 km south of Cairo, the Beni Suef plant will start supplying its first electricity to the national energy grid as early as winter 2016/2017. To achieve that, it will initially be operated in so-called simple cycle mode.

By subsequently adding heat exchangers and steam turbines it will be expanded into combined cycle mode reaching a total installed capacity of 4.8 gigawatts (GW). This is enough to supply around 15 million Egyptians with electricity, said a statement from Siemens.

Demonstrating the company’s commitment to a tight implementation schedule, a special ceremony was held by Siemens at the 500,000-sq-m Beni Suef site in the presence of the Egyptian Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Dr Mohamed Shaker.

The event was also attended by executives from Elsewedy Electric, Siemens’ construction partner for the plant; a host of customers and officials as well as Siemens global and regional executives.

“Today, we celebrate an important milestone in the modernisation of Egypt’s energy infrastructure and I am sure that many other milestones will follow,” remarked Dr Shaker.

“Egypt is undergoing economic transformation and as the country embarks on a series of ambitious infrastructure projects, efficient and reliable electricity will be essential to powering this development. The Beni Suef plant, alongside Siemens’ other power projects in the country, will definitely make an important contribution towards sustainable power supply in Egypt," he added.

Willi Meixner, the chief executive of the Siemens (Power & Gas) said: "Egypt’s sustainable development strategy outlines the need to provide affordable, reliable and modern energy services, boost energy efficiency and diversify the country’s energy mix."

"We are proud to be part of this vision and to celebrate another step towards its realisation today. Thanks to innovative technology, our energy projects in Egypt are set to transform the power landscape – boosting power generation by 50 per cent, creating thousands of jobs and resulting in $1.3 billion in fuel savings annually," he added.-TradeArabia News Service