Egypt is planning to issue tenders for a project to boost power generation at the ‘High Dam’ in Aswan as part of an ongoing renewable energy expansion programme, an official was quoted on Wednesday as saying.

Bidding for the project in Aswan, a city on the Nile located in South Egypt, could continue until the end of March to allow more firms to bid, said Hisham Kamal, Chairman of the state-owned Hydro Plants Generation Company.

Kamal told the Arabic language daily Addustoor that the Company produced nearly 7.8 million KWh of electricity in the first half of the current fiscal year and that there are plans to expand production to boost the share of hydroelectric energy in the country’s power generation, currently standing at 5 percent.

“We plan to issue tenders to increase the High Dam power generation…the plan is to boost capacity by nearly 300 MW and increase the life span of the dam,” he said.

Kamal also revealed plans by the Company to pump at least 500 million Egyptian pounds ($17 million) in the 2022-2023 fiscal year into new energy projects.

(1 US Dollar = 30.21 Egyptian Pounds)

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)