LIBYA - The Electric Power Sector.

Libya's power generating capacity of less than 5,000 MW meets the country's needs for most of the year. But there could be a serious shortage this summer due a major rise in consumption for air conditioning expected from early July. A big increase in the use of air conditioners is due mainly to the suspension of the UN sanctions and general expectations that a recent dialogue by Libyan and American diplomats would be followed by a lifting of the US sanctions as well.

The General Electric Co., Libya's state-owned unit in charge of this sector, has in recent years implemented capacity expansions and built new plants as well as converted some old stations to use natural gas instead of fuel oil. There are plans to increase power generating capacity to 8,250 MW by 2001 through three projects: a 640 MW gas-fired plant at Azzawia, 40 km west of Tripoli, consisting of four units contracted in 1998 and to be completed by end-1999; a 1,200 MW plant, also to be based on gas, to be built at Sirte together with a desalination facility; and a 1,400 MW "Gulf Power Plant", based on gas, to be built on the coast between Benghazi and Tripoli. One reason for the planned expansion is that many existing facilities are poorly maintained; and the Qadhafi regime often prefers to build new plants than to renovate old ones. Another reason is that Libya intends to sell electricity to Egypt and to Tunisia. A link between the power systems of Egypt and Libya was made last year as part of a plan to connect Egypt's electricity grid with that of North Africa. A link with Tunisia is expected in the first quarter of 2001.

A number of transmission and substation projects being carried out include a 400-kV link between Khoms and the first phase of the Great Man-Made River (GMR) project and a 66 kV line between Messla and Sarir. Two 400-kV substations are being installed, together with a new transmission network.

The General Electric Co. (GEC) in December 1997 launched a programme to have 42 substations, 66-kV each, installed throughout the country - but with concentration on the Benghazi, Tripoli and Sebha areas. The programme may not be completed before 2001, with most of the projects delayed in the past year due to a fall in oil income.

(Apart from the power projects, the government has been spending heavily on water resources. Dong-Ah Construction of South Korea had won a contract worth about $8 bn to build one phase of the $30 bn Great Man-Made River (GMR) project. The aim of this is to carry water from the underground wells of southern and central Libya to the northern coast for agricultural and other needs. Qadhafi's goal is to make Libya "green" by creating 180,000 hectares of farmland and achieving self-sufficiency in food. The project, which started in 1985 and should be complete in the next century, has been ridiculed by his critics as uncompetitive and impractical).