Siemens has placed first two of the four 400 MW H-class gas turbines at the Beni Suef power plant in Egypt, reported Trade Arabia.

The turbines were placed on the foundations alongside six 500 kV generator transformers, the German engineering company stated, according to ME Construction News.

Situated around 110 km south of Cairo, the Beni Suef plant is set to become the world’s biggest gas-fired combined-cycle power plant complex when completed.

Ahram Online further informed that the power plant will see other six turbines installed, and it is expected to supply around 21.6m people with electricity. The Beni Suef power plant will enter the service by the end of 2016 with 2,400 MW. 400 MW will be added hrough 2017, before becoming fully operational in April 2018 with additional capacity of 2,000 MW at that stage, according to the statement.

The plant will start supplying its first electricity to the national energy grid as early as winter 2016/2017. To achieve that, it will initially be operated in so-called simple cycle mode. By subsequently adding heat exchangers and steam turbines, it will be expanded into combined cycle mode reaching a total installed capacity of 4.

8 GW to supply electricity to around 15m Egyptians.

According to the Egyptian Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Dr. Mohamed Shaker, “Egypt is undergoing economic transformation and as the country embarks on a series of ambitious infrastructure projects, efficient and reliable electricity will be essential to powering this development. The Beni Suef plant, alongside Siemens’ other power projects in the country, will definitely make an important contribution towards sustainable power supply in Egypt.

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With its local partners, Siemens will build a total of three natural gas-fired combined cycle power plants with a total capacity of 14.4 GW in Egypt. About 4.4 GW of this power will be connected to the national grid in only 19 months, six months faster than the world benchmark.