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By Libya Herald reporter.
Tunis, 10 April 2017:
State electricity company GECOL has signed up to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a joint Arab electricity grid, agreed by the Arab League.
The MoU, signed in Cairo by Arab electricity ministers, underlines the League’s commitment to support the interconnection of electricity networks across the region.
Representing GECOL was its Presidency Council-backed chief executive, Ali Mohamed Sassi, and members of the board and the renewable energy section. The news was announced on the PC’s Government of National Accord Facebook page.
Libya has long experienced crippling power cuts since the 2011 revolution. In late January this year, a GECOL engineer told the Libya Herald a deficit of almost 1800 MW still existed.
PC deputy Ahmed Maetig said at the time he expected this shortfall to be cut to less than 500 MW by the end of March.
Militias have often been accused of blocking power supplies for tactical purposes or forcing GECOL engineers to divert the supply to their own areas.
In the last few days, GECOL has signed a MoU with Greek company METKA, this time to build a new 736-MW power station in Tobruk. The official signing of the contract is expected imminently.
Meanwhile, engineers from the Turkish construction company ENKA Teknik flew to Obari today to resume work on the power station. The gas-powered project, potentially able to reach a production capacity of 640 MW, was almost complete when fighting between Tebus and Tuaregs in 2014 forced ENKA to abandon the project. Its completion and activation is regarded as the answer to Fezzan’s power and electricity problems.
