Egypt plans to increase its power capacity by 550MW to tackle summer outage problems.

Cabinet Spokesman Magdy Rady told Reuters that a new 375MW power unit in Nubaria province, north of Cairo, will begin operating on 10 September 2010.

The country will also boost output from hydro-electric turbines at the Aswan High Dam, according to Rady.

In December, another new power station generating 120MW, using natural gas and 20MW of solar power at Koraymat, south of Cairo, will boost electricity generation further.

Power consumption has risen as summer temperatures climb, which has led to outages hitting several provinces including Cairo.