The Egyptian government decided to postpone negotiations on five power projects for which it had signed memorandum of understandings (MoU) in Sharm El Sheikh in March 2015 during the Sharm El Sheikh Economic Conference, reported Daily News Egypt.

Sources with the Egyptian government stated that Egypt delayed negotiations on five projects for generating electricity from various sources because it does not need all these capacities currently. Instead, the government thought that the national grid must be expanded and developed to absorb the added capacity.

The 5 projects are divided into 3 MoUs with the Saudi Arabian company ACWA Power and the Emirati Company Masdar. The government’s plan included establishing a power plant with a combined-cycle system at a 2,200MW capacity to be located in western Damietta with investments worth $2.5b, along with solar plants with total capacities of 1,500MW in different places, and a 500MW wind farm with cost estimated at $2.4b. The projects further included Tharwa Company’s MoU to establish an $11b coal-operated power plant

Additionally, Egypt postponed negotiations with ACWA Power for a 2,000MW coal plant that was planned to be upgraded to 4,000MW at a cost estimated at $7b.