Siemens to strengthen Egypt’s national grid with two new substations in the Delta region

In a new move aimed at improving the resilience of Egypt’s power grid, Siemens today announced the completion of the two substations, Samanoud and Aboul Matameer in Egypt. The project marks one of the country’s largest turnkey substations ever supplied. The two substations were built to transmit electricity from the Burullus power plant, the world’s largest gas-fired, combined cycle power station, to the national grid. 

Gamal Abdel Rahim, Chairman of the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC), said: “To enable more resilient, efficient and reliable power systems, Egypt needs to enhance the country’s transmission lines to accommodate the increase in power generation capacity. This is why the EETC has been redefining the conventional approaches to upgrade the grid infrastructure across the country.”

The two 500/220-kilovolt (kV) substations will enable power delivery to Egyptian homes as well as different industries located in the Delta, Alexandria and Kafr El Sheikh areas. They will also help increase the capacity of the national grid, which is a key requirement to foster economic growth as defined by the goals of Egypt’s vision 2030. 

Emad Ghaly, CEO of Siemens Egypt, said: “An efficient and robust electricity network is an essential part of Egypt’s vision to drive long-term economic growth. We are 

Farag El-Saadany, Senior Executive Vice President of Siemens Transmission solutions, in Egypt, added: “The two news substations will not only deliver more electricity to more homes, located near Alexandria and Kafr El Sheikh Governorates, but also support the focus on industrialization by providing reliable power supply to energy-intensive industries. They will feed power to cement, oil and gas and petrochemical facilities as well as ongoing infrastructure development projects in the Delta region.”

The fast-track project was executed in a consortium with El Sewedy. As part of the agreement, Siemens was responsible for the design, engineering, construction, supply, and installation and commissioning of the two turnkey substations. This includes gas-insulated switchgear (GIS); power transformers; control systems as well as protection and telecommunication equipment. 

Egypt outlined an ambitious target of developing 54 gigawatts (GW) of additional generating capacity by 2022 to accommodate its rapidly-growing population and economic expansion. To help the country meet this growing demand, Siemens has been analyzing Egypt’s energy system, carrying out a “Transmission Network Study”. In partnership with the Egyptian Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy, the study will include the existing, as well as the expected increases in Egypt’s power generation capacity until the year 2025.

The new substations build on Siemens’ contributions towards strengthening Egypt‘s power sector. It comes shortly following the company’s construction of six substations, in El Minia, El Beheira, Qalubia, Assiut and Kafr El Zayat cities, to transmit energy from Beni Suef and Burullus power plants. The first two substations were energized in a record time of only 10 months; from the contract signing to match the implementation timeframe of the mega-sized power plants. 

Siemens has been a development partner to Egypt for over 115 years. The company has managed to boost the country’s power generation capacity by 45 per cent through its mega projects. To date, approximately 50 per cent of the substations in the country are built by Siemens technology, improving national grid stability and responsiveness. 

Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for more than 165 years. The company is active in more than 200 countries, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world’s largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is a leading supplier of efficient power generation and power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions as well as automation, drive and software solutions for industry. The company is also a leading provider of medical imaging equipment – such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging systems – and a leader in laboratory diagnostics as well as clinical IT. In fiscal 2016, which ended on September 30, 2016, Siemens generated revenue of €79.6 billion and net income of €5.6 billion. At the end of September 2016, the company had around 351,000 employees worldwide. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.