- The Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) is partnering with Schneider Electric to transform the country’s national grid to a smart grid.
- The two entities have signed a US$ 287.5M contract for the implementation of the project.
The scope of the work includes the construction of four control centers that will use Schneider Electric’s Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS) to monitor, control, and reconfigure the grid, using “big data” and artificial intelligence.
The Rueil-Malmaison based company will also install more than 12,000 smart grid main units throughout the national grid using its own EcoStruxure Grid technology which is an open, interoperable, out-of-the-box, IoT (Internet of Things) compatible platform for power grid automation.
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These devices will help improve the availability of electricity by detecting network faults as soon as they occur and then reconfiguring the network to ensure stability. According to Schneider Electric, maintenance costs will be reduced significantly through the use of integrated intelligent sensors that will transmit data to control centers.
According Mohamed Shaker, Egypt’s Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, the project is the first of its kind in the region. It is expected to increase the efficiency and sustainability of the national electricity grid owing to the deployed smart technologies.
“This project will also contribute hugely to the advancement of the competence of our engineers and workers by helping them develop new and advanced working methods for use in the next phases of our grid modernization projects,” added the Minister.
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Author: Bryan Groenendaal
