On Thursday, Libya’s Interim Government of National Unity (GNU) announced that the German Siemens AG and the Turkish Enka Insaat ve Sanayi companies have begun the actual implementation of the Misrata gas station project, with a total capacity of 650 megawatts.
In a statement, the Spokesman for the government, Mohamed Hammouda said that this is part of the government’s efforts to end the electricity crisis in the country.
The project is based on a power island configuration for SGT5-PAC 2000E Siemens combustion turbine generator (CTG) units, these will be dual-fuel fired using light fuel oil and natural gas. Electricity will be generated in the CTG’s and stepped up through main transformers on the national grid.
The General Electricity Company of Libya (GECOL) reported that the project will enter into commercial operation before the summer of next year. It added that it was reliant on the project to cover a significant portion of the power deficit, and reduce the daily power cuts.
Rolling power blackouts are a recurring problem in Libya, given the infrastructure does not generate enough capacity to meet demand, especially in the summer months when use is high. Power usage significantly increased as residents use AC units to try and keep cool, as accentuated by the recent heatwave. Overall supply has dropped as power stations struggle to keep up with demand, and face additional technical issues due to the intense heat.