Situated about 110 kilometres south of Cairo, the Beni Suef plant will start supplying its first electricity to the national energy grid as early as winter 2016/17. To achieve that, it will initially be operated in the 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 4.8GW. This is enough to supply about 15 million Egyptians with electricity.

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

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