CAIRO, May 4 (Aswat Masriya) - An American and a German firm will operate in Egypt to generate 3,600 megawatts of electricity together, Egypt's premier said on Monday.  

The companies have been contracted by the armed forces, Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb said. 

This is part of an urgent plan to help Egypt combat a recurring energy crisis in the summer.  

Although Egypt has been facing an energy crisis for years, power outages surge in the summer, and households may lose power several times a day. Egyptian authorities have often owed the power cuts to a larger fuel crisis.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has repeatedly reiterated the importance of diversifying sources of energy, a direction Egypt has been taking in recent months. 

The president said in January that Egypt aims to build solar power plants and wind energy facilities within the next three years, with a total capacity of 4,300 megawatts. 

Egypt signed an agreement with Russia in February, in which Russia will help Egypt build a nuclear power plant in Dabaa, on Egypt's Mediterranean coast, allowing Egypt to also generate electricity using nuclear power.