The never-ending Q&A about the ongoing blackouts continued to consume airtime on the talk shows yesterday, though some time was made to discuss th e outcome of the Palestinian reconciliation talks that took place in Alamein City yesterday, the eligibility criteria for settling outstanding military obligations for those living abroad, and the latest on the National Dialogue.

BREAKING DOWN THE POWER CUTS PROBLEM-

The national grid isn’t guilty: Our national electricity grid can take on 11 GW additional to yesterday’s consumption of around 34.5 GW, Electricity Ministry official Hafez Abdel Aal El Salmawy told Kelma Akhira’s Lamees El Hadidi yesterday in a phone interview ( watch, runtime: 18:59).

Blame it on the energy supply deficit: El Salmawy explained that “the last two weeks of July saw electricity consumption levels increase 10-14% y-o-y while our energy reservoir fell short of covering for that increase.”

Some electricity stations run only on natural gas: While the government was able to cover more than half of the energy shortage using mazut, “six percent of that increase in consumption remains unmet due to the fact that some electricity stations run only on natural gas,” he added.

But what happened to using renewable energy? Our renewable energy sources are already “covering 13-15% of the energy needs of the national grid, leading to fewer blackouts than would have been the case otherwise.” Ala Mas’ouleety also gave airtime to the blackouts, with show host Ahmed Moussa talking to Assistant Local Development Minister Khalid Kassim ( watch, runtime: 20:30).

PALESTINE RECONCILIATION TALKS FAIL-

No consensus reached: Yesterday’s Egypt-mediated meeting between competing Palestinian factions didn’t bear fruit but “left the door half open without reaching any agreements” on the topics of discussion,” Ayman Al Raqb, a senior member of Fatah, told El Hadidi ( watch, runtime: 4:31). Representatives of Fatah, Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine met in El Alamein yesterday under efforts by Egypt to heal the years-long rift and establish a unified Palestinian administration. Organizing presidential elections, establishing a technocratic government and finding consensus on how to resist the Israeli occupation were among the topics of discussion, Al Raqb said.

Red flags: This round of talks “was planned to last for two days but was rather concluded after just a few hours and the participating Palestinian groups put out separate closing statements rather than a joint statement,” Al Raqb added, suggesting that the talks had failed. Masa’a DMC ( watch, runtime: 7:27), Al Hayah Al Youm ( watch, runtime: 26:00), and Ala Mas’ouleety ( watch, runtime: 8:32) also gave the story airtime.

Also on the airwaves last night:

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