GAZA'S POWER PLANT TO RESTART SOON

C O N F I D E N T I A L JERUSALEM 004631 SIPDIS SIPDIS NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE; NEA/IPA FOR WILLIAMS/SHAMPAINE/STEINGER; NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/WATERS; TREASURY FOR SZUBIN/LOEFFLER/NUGENT/HIRSON E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/27/2016 TAGS: ENRG PREL EAID KWBG PHUM SUBJECT: GAZA'S POWER PLANT TO RESTART SOON REF: JERUSALEM 4238 Classified By: Acting Principal Officer Thomas Duffy, Reasons 1.4 (b) a nd (d). ¶1. (C) The executive managing director of the Gaza Power Generating Company (GPGC),Walid Salman, advised EconChief October 23 that the Gaza power plant may be ready to produce electricity again as early as the first week of November. He explained that the installation and commissioning of two step-up transformers and three step-down transformers should be completed by that time. ¶2. (SBU) USAID Gaza-based staff confirmed October 26 that the five transformers have been installed and the commissioning phase is expected to be completed by the first week of November. Swedish experts are reportedly assisting in the process. USAID Infrastructure Officer estimates that the five transformers will be capable of providing 50 MVA (35MW). Two additional step-up transformers are due to arrive from Egypt next week. GPGC expects installation and commissioning to take at least two weeks, bringing the total number of transformers to seven (4 step-up and three step-down) by mid-November, at which point the power plant should have the capacity to produce 75 MVA (60MW). Over the next few months, in the final stage of the repair process, five additional transformers (two step-up and three step-down) will be added, bringing capacity up to 150MVA (140MW). (Note: This will fully maximize the plant's generating capacity, thereby producing 30 MW more than before the June 28 Israeli airstikes against the facility. End Note.) DUFFY