The Egyptian Cabinet stated today, Wednesday, that Egypt will experience frequent power outages until the middle of next week, as the government attempts to reduce gas consumption during the heatwave. A statement from the Cabinet quoted Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly saying that authorities began reducing electricity loads two days ago due to the hot wave, which has caused an increase in electricity and gas consumption, leading to decreased gas pressure in the networks supplying power plants.
He added, "We are currently in a temporary load-shedding period until the grid returns to normal pressure." The Cabinet's statement mentioned that Madbouly "emphasized the importance of continuing to implement various measures that would contribute to rationalizing electricity consumption in general."
Residents reported power outages in several areas of Cairo this week, where temperatures have exceeded 40 degrees Celsius due to the heatwave affecting Southern Europe and North Africa, coinciding with record highs in other parts of the Northern Hemisphere.
Egypt has a surplus of electricity supply after rapidly growing its capacity over the past decade, but the demand for energy, much of which is generated from natural gas, rises in the summer with increased use of air conditioning. Since last year, the government has been trying to reduce domestic consumption of natural gas in order to export it and earn much-needed foreign currency. Egypt achieved self-sufficiency in natural gas by late 2018 and is seeking to develop its position as a regional energy hub for liquefying gas and re-exporting it.
