Egypt Presidency Endorses Power Linkage Deal with Saudi Arabia

Egypt’s interim president Adly Mansour has endorsed on Tuesday the memorandum of understanding signed between the Egyptian government and its Saudi counterparts on the electricity interconnection.

This comes after Egypt and Saudi Arabia and Egypt signed last June with the presence of Egyptian Electricity Minister Ahmed Emam a six billion riyal ($1.6bn) agreement to link their electricity grids, a project that will allow power trading between the two countries.

The project will cost around $ 2.1 billion and is aimed at exchanging electricity up to 3,000MW at peak hours between the two countries.

The electricity tie-up project will provide for the two countries around US$5 billion, pointing out that the cost of 1 MW is amounted to US$1 million. The project will offer 3000 MW at a cost of US$3 million for the infrastructure and stations, in addition to the cost of networks and lines at value of around US$3.5 billion.

The  inter-connection project with Saudi Arabia is the one of the finest in terms of its technical and economic feasibility, due to the different timing of the peak hours in the two countries.

The length of the line will be 1,375 km, of which 450 km will pass through Egyptian territory. Part of the transmission line (some 20 km) will be laid under the Gulf of Aqaba.

The Egyptian-Saudi electricity tie-up project is one the biggest of its kind in the Arab world, compared to other electricity connections with other countries such as with Libya in which the line is estimated at 160 MW.

The studies on the electricity tie-up project between Egypt and Saudi Arabia have begun in 2009. The project is one of the most important strategic projects in the Arab world for its positive implications and its significant yield for both countries and the Arab region as a whole.