Power-rich Egypt changes gear

On 17 July, Egypt recorded the highest consumption of electricity in its history during the strongest heatwave in 20 years. A Ministry of Electricity spokesperson said peak load at 8pm was 32GW while available power at that time was 44.8GW. With a comfortable reserve margin in place, government policy is now geared towards locking in cheap baseload power for the long term. The contrast with the crisis in 2013, when Egypt was crippled by severe power cuts, shows the determination with which President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s administration has addressed the question of electricity supply over the past five years.