The CEO of the General Electricity Company of Libya (GECOL), Wiam Al-Abdalli, said Libya reached the highest level of power consumption in its history last week, hitting a high of 8125 megawatts while GECOL's network total electricity generation was 5200 megawatts.

Al-Abdalli told Hokometna social platform Monday that he expects electricity conditions will be improved next week with the cooling down of the heatwave that led to the increased power use in the last few days, saying GECOL managed to control the network during the heatwave this time unlike last year.

"2000 megawatts will be added to the network by the end of 2021 and 5200 megawatts by the end of 2022 as new units are being connected as part of GECOL efforts and maintenance work at different plants. Long hours of load shedding are driven by the need of maintenance at some power plants where damages and sabotage had been committed, let alone the accumulated debts of bills' payments to be paid by users across Libya, which - when paid - can help support GECOL efforts." He explained.

He also indicated that GECOL is planning to carry out several projects to tackle the electricity outages issue; building plants and finishing the building of suspended ones, saying GECOL informed the Korean firms contracted for the projects to return and resume work in Libya or cancel the contracts.

"We're negotiating with four firms to build plants in Zliten, Derna, and Western Tripoli with a capacity of 5000 megawatts to "say goodbye to power load shedding." He added that they are talking to other firms to nationalize solar power in projects in Ghadames, Kufra, Hun and Rabyana in cooperation with Italy's Eni.