(Bloomberg) -- Egypt will scrap scheduled power cuts until the end of the summer after the government secured energy supplies to keep power plants running.
The rolling blackouts which have been lasting for two to three hours a day will be suspended from July 21 until mid-September, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said at a press conference. He urged people to curb “unprecedented” electricity consumption that has soared to 37.5 gigawatts a day.
Egypt, a mostly desert country that’s heating up at one of the world’s fastest rates, saw temperatures in Cairo recently surpass 40C (104F) on some days. Soaring demand for cooling is piling pressure on the grid, and authorities — who recently agreed a $57 billion bailout — are being forced into their highest imports of liquefied natural gas since 2018. That marks a turnaround for a country that previously exported LNG to Europe.
The nation recently received five LNG cargoes out of 21 shipments that it contracted to provide the fuel needed for the country’s power stations, the oil ministry said in a statement this week.
Madbouly late last month said the government has allocated $1.18 billion for extra energy imports, and said more may be required depending on the severity of the summer heat.
He also said on Wednesday that electricity demand should rise by 3 gigawatts to 4 gigawatts by next summer, and that the government will use renewable energy to cover the additional consumption.
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