Siemens has been awarded a contract to upgrade the power distribution management system and establish an advanced metering infrastructure for Alexandria Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC).

As subsidiary of the state-owned utility Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC), AEDC is responsible for the distribution network of Alexandria Governorate, the second most populated governorate in Egypt.

AEDC serves customers in Alexandria, a city with about five million inhabitants. Implementing state-of-the-art software solutions and automation devices will help AEDC to increase efficiency and reliability of the electricity supply, while reducing electricity distribution losses.

This project funded by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has a value of about EUR50 million.

During the upcoming 30 months, Siemens will be implementing an ADMS control centre for the West Alexandria region and a control centre to supervise all distribution control centres in Alexandria.

In addition, 300,000 smart meters will be supplied, including the necessary hardware and software to establish an advanced metering infrastructure. The implementation of the advanced software solutions for distribution grids, and the rollout of hundreds of thousands of intelligent field devices will help Alexandria Electricity Distribution Company to increase operational and network efficiency, reduce network loads and losses, and take efficient countermeasures before critical situations arise. Following the partnership agreement signed with ESRI in July 2022, Siemens will also be delivering ESRI’s Geographical Information System (GIS) within the scope of the project.

“We are very proud to be awarded a new contract to modernize the electrical grid, because it reconfirms Siemens’ commitment to deliver world-class technology to Egypt,” said Mostafa El-Bagoury, Siemens Egypt CEO.

“We are also happy to work again with JICA in Egypt. This project truly signifies what Siemens stands for: providing technology with a purpose. With the rollout of hundreds of thousands of intelligent field devices and advanced software applications, we will help the operators to efficiently manage their networks and proactively guide them before and during critical situations.”

“We are very pleased that our customer has chosen Siemens to upgrade the distribution grid in Alexandria with software,” said Sabine Erlinghagen, CEO of Grid Software at Siemens.

“Our software helps informed decision-making and operational optimization to effectively reduce the cost of the distribution grid. By visualizing the processes of the distribution grid at all times, our customers are able to control a wide range of grid assets, and take action to prevent critical situations before they happen.”

Between 2015 and 2021, around 28.5 GW of generation capacity was added to the Egyptian power grid, enabling the country to become a power surplus nation. Egypt has also increased its share of renewable energy resources (primarily wind and solar) over the years. The development of the power grid needs to keep pace with the installation of new power generation assets. For the distribution grid, it is important to increase efficiency of the network and to reduce power losses. – TradeArabia News Service