Egypt is set to build the world’s largest clean-coal plant. A Chinese conglomerate beat the US General Electric and a Japanese firm for a $4.4bn project at Hamrawein that will generate close to seven gigawatts of power or 40 per cent more than South Africa’s new station at Medupi, and dwarfing output from the turbines on the Zambezi River at Lake Kariba.
“This will be the world’s most advanced ultra-supercritical clean-coal plant,” said Zou Lei who chairs the Dongfang Electric Corporation, one of the winning contractors. Chinese and Egyptian banks will provide the finance.
China, the United States and South Africa lead the world in clean-coal research, though many sites still use old-fashioned technology. Critics say this is made worse by a World Bank decision not to fund projects using fossil fuel.
Source: CAJ News Africa