Egypt Generates 55 Gigawatts of Electricity, Nigeria 3,000 Megawatts
- Egypt has best electricity access in Africa, having achieved 100 per cent distribution and generation
- The North African country has continuously improved on its power and energy, adding over 28,000MW of electricity in three years
- Currently, Egypt generates and distributes about 55 gigawatts of electricity, the highest in Africa and is gunning to switch to renewable energy by 2035
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The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi is in Egypt to study the country’s electricity, education and financial services.
Obi tweeted prior to departing to the North African country that his trip will last three days.
Source: Getty Images
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Analysts have wondered why Obi decided to visit Egypt instead of more robust economies like the United States, Germany, France or Canada.
Recent reports say that Egypt has achieved 100 per cent electricity access and is a leading energy producer in Africa while Nigeria is missing in the top 10 countries with the best electricity access.
Nigeria vs Egypt
In 2022, Nigeria’s national grid collapsed eight times, the most recent happened on Monday, June 13, 2022.
While the Nigerian government has promised to add 3,000 megawatts of electricity to the national grid, the government of Egypt, in three years, added more than 28,000 megawatts of electricity to their national grid in hydro, thermal and renewable energy and the country is on track to increase its electricity supply from renewable energy by 42 per cent by 2035.
Nigeria’s National Electricity Regulatory Commission Chairman, Sanusi Garba, gave the assurance at an interactive session with journalists after the Second Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) meeting in Lagos.
Reports from International Trade Administration ranks Egypt’s electricity as the best in Africa, having shored up its electricity supply from 2015 to 2018 to 55 gigawatts.
This has been achieved through a fast-track project that worked on installing 3636 MW of electricity in 8.5 months worth USD 2.7 billion. Another project was signed with Siemens in March 2015 which added 14400 MW in 2.5 years by building 3 mega combined power cycle stations. By converting old simple cycle power plants to combined cycle, another 1850 MW were installed, the reports said.
While Nigeria is grappling with an epileptic power supply, Egypt is gunning to become an energy hub in Africa with several energy interconnectors.
What Egypt is doing to improve electricity
The government of Egypt invested around USD 1.5 billion in the distribution grid between 2017 and 2020. It currently needs around USD 1.2 billion to upgrade its distribution networks. The government is also working on modernising 47 distribution control centres around the country. There are 19 centres under construction: 14 with Schneider Electric, 1 with General Electric, and 4 with JICA.
Top 10 countries with the best electricity access in Africa
- Egypt: 100% energy access.
- Algeria: 100% energy access.
- Morocco: 100% energy access.
- Tunisia: 100% energy access.
- Gabon: 91% energy access.
- South Africa: 85% energy access.
- Ghana: 84% energy access.
- Botswana: 70% energy access.
- Kenya: 70% energy access.
- Senegal: 70% energy access.
Why Peter Obi went to Egypt and what the country is doing better than Nigeria
However, Legit.ng reported that one of the top contenders for 2023 presidency, Peter Obi announced on Tuesday, June 14, 2022 that he was going to Egypt to understudy the country’s power, education, planning and finance sectors.
Many have said the presidential candidate of the Labour Party should have rather been at Ekiti State where governorship election is due to hold on Saturday, June 18, 2022 and campaign for the party’s candidate.
Others said that Peter Obi’s decision to travel to Egypt is well-thought out considering the rebounding of the country’s economy in recent times.
Source: Legit.ng
