Energy independence and security are central to every nation in the world these days. Almost everything we do during our daily lives requires power, whether it’s cooking or doing our job. Without reliable power an entire country’s economy can be crippled and people who need medical care can face dire situations. Since the Arab Spring happened in Egypt and Hosni Mubarak’s ouster the country has suffered from power outages. During the summer of 2014 they grew more frequent and lasted even longer. This has made Egypt’s efforts to recover and become a fully functioning nation rather difficult.
In order to help Egypt recover, Abu Dhabi based Al Nowais Investments Group signed a $4.5 billion agreement with Egyptian Electricity Holding Company to build Egypt’s first coal-fired power plant in the Suez region. This will hopefully be the just the first in a series of new power plants that will help bring energy security back to Egypt thereby stabilizing its economy and ending the waves of blackouts that users are experiencing. Hussain Al Nowais, chairman of Al Nowais Investments Group signed the deal with Gabr el-Desouky, chairman of the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company.
“The environmentally friendly power plant, producing 2,460MW of energy, will not only sustain economic development but will also position Egypt as one of the global leading countries in the field of renewable energy,” according to Electricity and Renewable Energy Minister Mohamed Shaker. Soon following the announcement of the Suez region power plant was the creation of another deal by Chairman of the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company Ahmed Al-Hanafy. He has agreed to a $1.5 billion deal to build a coal-fired plant in the Delta governorate of Kafr el-Sheikh.
The deals didn’t stop there either though. At recent conferences the Egyptian Energy Minister has signed another 21.2 billion in deals. One of the deals signed is with Siemens from Germany for $10 billion. The project will develop four MoUs with production capacity of 6.6 GW. This deal and more will lead to the construction of power plants in Qena, Southern Cairo, Sedi Kirir and Kafr el-Dawwar. This massive shift in providing funding and making an effort to bring Egypt’s power infrastructure online will be a boon to the country and the world. Country’s where economic stability can be found are generally safer and are able to provide the world with goods. Egypt has had a tumultuous few years, but it appears as though it is beginning to climb back up as a fully functioning country.