In the presence of HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Minister of Energy, and Their Excellencies Mohamed Shaker El-Markabi, Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, and Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation in Egypt, the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) and the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) signed on Tuesday, October 5th, awarding contracts for the Saudi-Egyptian electricity interconnection project.
“Reaching this crucial phase of the project is the outcome of the directives of the leaderships of both friendly countries, which aim to further strengthen the solid brotherly bond, deepen the long-standing and special relations, and fulfill the two brotherly peoples’ aspirations,” HRH Prince Abdulaziz said on the occasion.
The signing of these electricity interconnection contracts, HRH added, comes in implementation of the MoU signed with the presence of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, HRH Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, and His Excellency President AbdelFattah ElSisi, as part of a package of economic, development, and political agreements between the two countries.
The overall electricity interconnection plans, HRH Minister of Energy noted, are in line with the Kingdom’s executive programs under Saudi Vision 2030 which enjoys the auspices of HRH Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Through power interconnection projects, HRH pointed out, Saudi Vision 2030 aims at investing the Kingdom’s strategic location and the fact that it has the largest power grid in the Arab region and the Middle East in becoming a regional hub for exchanging electricity. These projects will contribute to strengthening the regional market of electricity trade and supporting both countries’ participation in it.
His Excellency Egypt’s Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Mohamed Shaker El-Markabi said that the project is a result of the deep, long-standing Saudi-Egyptian relations and the directives of the leaderships of both countries. This attests to how both countries take the lead in achieving economic and social objectives and set an example to other Arab nations. This project will complement and support both countries’ 2030 visions and serve as a stepping stone for a wider connection among the Arab world.
This project represents a strong linkage between the region’s two largest electrical grids, H.E. added. It will reflect on the stability and reliability of the electricity transmission systems between the two countries. Moreover, exchanging 3000 megawatts of power will no doubt boost the economic and development returns.
Amid the two countries’ ambitious plans to expand their harnessing of renewables to generate electricity, H.E. explained, this interconnection acts as a safety valve for both grids to face the intermittence of renewable resources and helps avoid large investments to address their impacts.
The contracts, signed simultaneously in Cairo and Riyadh, were with three consortiums of global and local companies to execute the $1.8 billion interconnection project. The project has a capacity of 3000 megawatt and uses HVDC technology with a voltage of 500 kV. It includes the construction of three AC/DC conversion substations in Badr city in Egypt, Al Madinah and Tabuk cities in Saudi Arabia. The substations are linked with a 1350 km of aerial power lines and 22 km of submarine cables at the Gulf of Aqaba.
The awarding contracts were signed by the SEC’s CEO Eng. Khaled bin Hamad Al Gnoon, and EETC’s chairwoman Sabah Mashaly.
The project, when fully operational, is going to offer many shared benefits for both countries, including promoting the reliability of the national electrical grids, supporting their stability, maximizing their generation capacities and making use of their different timings of electrical peak loads. Moreover, it will empower the two countries to achieve the ambitious objectives of incorporating renewables into the optimal energy mix. The project also will activate electricity trade and open the door for using accompanying optical fiber line. This will help in enhancing telecommunication networks and information transmission between the two countries and their neighboring countries, thus, maximizing the project’s economic returns.
