The Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Mohammad Shaker Al Markabi, said that Egypt is set to finalise a contract to build a nuclear power plant by year-end with Russian Rosatom as part of a comprehensive plan to introduce nuclear power station, coal-fired power station and renewable energy. There is a focus on improving the transmission and distribution network to meet the electricity demand; 1500km of 500 kilovolt of transmission network have been installed, said Al Markabi. “This is a huge undertaking as it represents one third of already existing in the country now. We are installing about nine substations of extra high voltage which are under construction at present. We are working hard to close the gap in transmission.” (Gulf News)