General Electric (GE) company asked the Egyptian Electricity Ministry to pay $148m in return for the overhauls and maintenance operations the company had carried out on production plants over the past six months, Daily News Egypt reported.

These operations included many production plants in Ataqa, El-Mahmudeya El-Nubareya, North Delta, and other units.

The operations were conducted in line with the ministry’ plan to replace, renovate, and maintain power plants in order to save fuel and raise energy efficiency, instead of building new plants, which are costly for the state. Work to use modern technology in the plants and convert them to operate via the combined cycle system is underway in order to further reduce fuel consumption.

Maintenance work is scheduled by the Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy to be completed in April.

Previously, GE had announced that it had signed a contract worth approximately $250m with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) to provide the company’s advanced grid solutions technologies to substations located in Mostathmereen, Beni Suef Industrial, Ismailia East, and Temay Alemdeed, according to Smarter Analyst website. These four Gas-Insulated Substations (GIS) are expected to connect 7 GW of power to the national grid, which is the equivalent to the country’s electricity needs.

This contract is part of the Protocol of Cooperation signed during the French Presidential visit to Egypt, highlighting the importance of this project to Egypt’s energy sector.