Cairo’s high profile 2 September award of a $4.4bn coal-fired power plant to Chinese state firms Shanghai Electric and Dongfang Electric together with Egyptian firm Hassan Allam represents a big boost for regional coal-fired plans and emphasizes the growing dependence of coal power on Chinese finance.
The 6GW plant at Hamrawein on Egypt’s Red Sea coast will make Egypt the largest Mena coal-fired generator. This takes the Mena region’s coal capacity under development to 9.8GW, equating to more than one and a quarter times the total 7.7GW of coal-fired capacity currently in operation (see table). (CONTINUED - 1161 WORDS)
