p Soviet assistance in developing power engineering occupies a prominent place within the framework of economic and technological cooperation with African countries. Under existing agreements, the USSR is assisting the construction of 27 power projects in Africa. On completion, their aggregate capacity will amount to 2.9 million kw.

p The Aswan complex in Egypt is the biggest hydropower project built with Soviet assistance in Africa. With its rated power of 2.1 million kw, it will be able to generate up to 8 billion kwh a year, when it reaches its design head. The Joint Soviet-Egyptian Declaration on the Completion and Commissioning of the Aswan Complex notes that "this Dam is a new word in the world practice of hydro- engineering, a major achievement of Soviet science and technology, a result of the fruitful creative cooperation between Soviet and Egyptian scientists, engineers and workers".  [180•4 

p The commissioning of the Aswan hydroelectric station has radically changed Egypt’s power supply. Up to 1960, almost all Egyptian power was generated by steam power stations working on imported fuel oil. After the commissioning of the Aswan High Dam hydroenergetics became the country’s main source of electricity. Between 60 and 75 per cent of the power generated by Egypt’s hydroelectric stations is transmitted to Cairo, Alexandria and other densely populated areas of Lower Egypt by high-voltage power transmission lines. The use of the Nile’s water energy gives Egypt £E200 million in annual profits.

p Africa’s first unified power grid, including 14 power transmission lines, 15 substations and a dispatcher centre in Cairo, is being built on the basis of the Aswan complex.

p The number of African countries the Soviet Union has assisted to tap their hydroenergy resources has increased in recent years. In Morocco, for instance, the MansourEddakhby hydro-complex was commissioned in 1973. This includes a 70-metre-high arch-gravity dam, a 536 millioncubic-metre water reservoir, and a 10,000 kw hydropower station with 192 km of power transmission lines. The Soviet Union has also assisted Morocco in building the AitAadel hydropower station, which has a capacity of 181 24,000 kw. In Tunisia, a 660 kw-capacity hydroelectric station was erected with Soviet assistance on the Kasseb River. A dam and a hydroelectric station are to be built on the Jumin River.

p Since 1960, Soviet experts have been rendering technical assistance in running Guinea’s power projects owned by the government company SNE (National Electric Society). This company owns 57 per cent of the commissioned power capacity and accounts for 35 per cent of the total power output in the country. Since 1971, Soviet organisations have been participating in the development of the power industry in Tanzania, where the state-owned company Tanesco is modernising and building electric power transmission lines and new power-generating plants. In cooperation with Soviet experts, the company is currently engaged in surveying for a technical project of a 14,000 kw-capacity hydropower station to be built on the Kivira River, 75 km-long power transmission lines and an access road.

p Thermal power stations (TPS), too, have been or are being built with Soviet aid in a number of African countries. The biggest of them are: a 165,000 kw-capacity TPS at Jerada (Morocco); a 100,000 kw-capacity TPS in Suez (Egypt); a 55,000 kw-capacity Annaba-III TPS (Algeria); and a 13,500 kw-capacity TPS at the oil refinery in Assaba (Ethiopia).

Soviet participation in building small-capacity diesel power plants which are important for power supply in remote areas has become widespread today. In Zambia, for instance, the Soviet Union has built ten 400 kw-capacity diesel power plants. In 1974, Soviet and local engineers drew up a technical and economic report on the development of Zambia’s power system, whose objective was to create an independent power grid in the country. Several diesel power plants have also been built in Guinea, Somalia and the Sudan to generate power for industrial enterprises constructed with Soviet aid and for near-by settlements.