Sunday 01/June/2025 – 04:11 PM
Dr. Mahmoud Esmat, Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, started his visit to France, by inspecting the “Grand Maison” station, which is the largest electrical facility that works with pumping and storage in Europe, and was chosen as one of the experimental sites of some of the projects funded by the European Union to test a group of smart technologies that can help electrical power stations to participate in supporting the stability of the electrical network.
Esmat listened to a detailed explanation from the station’s officials about the importance of electric power generation projects by pumping and storing water, as one of the most important sources of supply of electrical networks with clean, sustainable and stable energy, as well as the saving rates in the fuel and technology used in Grand Maison station, which has a capacity of 1,800 megawatts and consists of 12 turbines and 9 pumps, and includes two energy plants, the first above the surface of the Earth to generate power Traditional hydroelectric, and under the surface of the earth to pump and generate electricity.
He also continued the importance of the station’s work in peak times to achieve stability for the French network, and it contains advanced units known as the reverse turbocharged units to be able to work in two directions as a turbine to generate electricity when the water is launched and as pumps to raise water during periods of low energy demand, and the electric energy produced annually from the station is 1420 gigawatts, and the station can increase its production within three minutes to feed up to 1.8 gigawits of electricity.
Esmat pointed to modern technology and the development of the structural and technical specifications of the station, the operating systems, the control and communication center with the network operator, stressing the keenness to expand the scope of cooperation with the French side and benefit from the experiences of companies operating in the fields of renewable energies, and work to attract more French companies to invest in Egypt, in light of the existing cooperation and partnership between the two countries in many areas, including clean energy, pumping, storage, and supporting and developing the network Electrical, control centers, training, and lower loss.
Action plan to maximize revenues from renewable energies
Esmat stressed that the Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy has an action plan to maximize the returns from renewable energies, and to ensure the stability of the network by introducing energy storage systems and setting up a pumping and storage station, explaining the interest in the energy mix and diversifying the sources of obstetrics from renewable energies and increasing its contribution and relying on it within the framework of the energy strategy that aims to reach the renewable energy rate in the energy mix to more than 42% in 2030, to reach 60% in 2040.
He pointed to the plan to exploit the available natural resources and achieve the maximum benefit from them, explaining the dependence on the private sector in this field, the use of its expertise and openness to all possible ways of cooperation and partnership to achieve joint benefit, stressing the plan to reduce traditional fuel consumption, reduce carbon emissions and increase dependence on new and renewable energies.
