By Seraj Essul.
Tripoli, 9 July 2014:
The first shipment of fuel has arrived to supply Sirte’s new Gulf power . . .[restrict]station as the General Electric Company of Libya (GECOL) prepares to connect the plant to the national grid.
GECOL spokesman Lutfi Ghoma told the Libya Herald the shipment of 34,000 tonnes, which arrived by sea, had already been transferred to to the power station. He said it would power one of the Gulf plant’s four 350-MW turbines which would initially operate at around half of its normal capacity.
When it begins to generate power at its reduced level, the turbine should supply the national grid with an extra 175 megawatts, Ghoma explained. He said that work would continue on the plant to bring all four of the turbines to their full normal working capacity of 1,400 MW.
In a statement yesterday, the Ministry of Electricity said the whole project was half way to completion. There had been fears that a recent withdrawal of Turkish technicians from the power plant because of threats against Turks by General Hafter’s Operation Dignity would slow its completion. However, accrording to Ghoma, other workers had been able to continue construction despite the Turkish engineers’ absence.
A Turkish diplomatic source told this paper that Turkish workers were expected to return to their posts soon. Turkish technicians working at the Sirte power station fled with their countrymen based across eastern Libya a few days ago after Operation Dignity leader Khalifa Hafter ordered Turks and Qataris “from Sirte to Musaid” to quit the country. Hafter’s spokesman Mohamed Hejazi alleged at the time that there were Turkish and Qatari spies in the two communities.
The Gulf power station was robbed and vandalised last month, resulting in the collapse of two of its pylons.
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