By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 10 July 2013:
There should be no power cuts during the fasting month of Ramadan which started today in . . .[restrict]Libya, Electricity Minister Muhairig said.
Speaking at Sunday’s press conference alongside the Prime Minister, Muhairig said that the 250 Mega Watt (MW) mobile electricity generators imported from American company APR has been installed at the Furnaj power station, which has a capacity of 50 MW.
The rest of the capacity will be installed either today (Sunday 7 July) or in the first few days of the holy month of Ramadan, Minister Muhairig said.
The Minister also wished to assure Libyans living in the south that the two fixed power stations at Samnu and Umm Jidwal will be operational soon which will increase generation capacity.
The Electricity Minister also appealed to the general public to use electricity prudently. He said that there will be an indicator on some TV stations showing the rate of national electricity consumption.
Challenged by the media as to why he had not chosen to build conventional power stations, the Minister said that he would have liked to have purchased conventional power stations, but that purchasing power stations is not as simple as buying a car, for example.
Conventional power stations are a longterm matter, he explained. I took up office on 13 December 2012 and I had six months to provide enough power by the month of Ramada, the Minister added. The Ministry set aside some money for conventional power stations and some for mobile generators from the American company.
Justifying his decision to purchase mobile power stations, Minister Muhairig said that there were examples for Libya to look at. For example Tunisia purchased from the same supplier 130 MW and so did Japan, the US, Pakistan and Iraq in certain situations.
As to whether there will be enough power over summer, this will depend on a number of conditions, he added. If the temperature rises to 45 degrees, it will not be enough. But God wishes us well for when I looked at the temperature forecasts for the fasting month of Ramadan, they did not rise to 40 degrees, the Minister explained.
There are also another 200 MW generating capacity that should be available before the end of July so that the total electricity generating capacity should total 450 MW. I think this should be enough and if it is not enough I think there will be some minor or power cuts, Muhairig concluded.
[/restrict]
