Sacyr Proyecta, a subsidiary of Sacyr Engineering and Infrastructure, is currently tasked with the engineering, the procurement of materials and equipment, and the provision of technical assistance during the construction project to expand the Dahshour gas compression station for the Egyptian Natural Gas Company (GASCO), the state operator of Egypt’s gas network.
Sacyr Proyecta will supply three new compressors for gas distribution to Cairo, which will join the four compressors already in existence.
In addition, state-of-the-art technologies will be introduced to recover waste heat from gas turbines to generate electricity. This energy will power the compression station and reduce CO2 emissions.
The project is part of the “Green Economy Transition” (GET), a program launched in 2015 by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), whose goal is to help the countries in which it operates—including Egypt—to adopt eco-friendly development models in order to improve the sustainability of gas transmission, for example.
“We are undertaking a project through which we can generate the power needed to make the plant self-sufficient by using the heat of the exhaust from the gas turbines”, explains Saturnino Teijeiro, Dahshour project manager at Sacyr Proyecta.
The process is as follows: the exhaust generated in the combustion of each compressor’s turbine is currently emitted directly into the atmosphere. With the implementation of this project, Sacyr will install a waste heat recovery unit at the outlet of each turbine, so hot combustion gases can be used to heat thermal oil. The heated oil is channeled to the organic Rankine cycle (ORC) plant, contracted from an Italian company (Turboden). This plan consists of two turbines connected to two electrical generators.
At the ORC plant, the heated oil is used to vaporize a fluid that feeds two turbines, enabling us to generate the energy needed to power the Dahshour compression station, making it independent of the country’s power grid.
The expansion of the plant, which is located in Cairo, will require an investment of nearly USD 110 million (roughly EUR 80 million) and will have an 18-month timeline for completion.
Sacyr Proyecta’s role in this project will be completed in May 2024.
