Egypt to export electricity to Saudi Arabia
An interconnection power line between Egypt and Saudi Arabia is expected to generate important economic benefits for Egypt and boost its aspiration to become a regional energy hub.
Sabah Mashaly, chairman of the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC), told Al-Monitor over the phone that the electricity interconnection project between Egypt and Saudi Arabia will be launched in mid-June.
She explained that the project cost is estimated at about $1.6 billion. The Saudi side bears $1 billion and Egypt will finance the rest, as each country bears the value of the work done on its lands. The project aims to exchange 3,000 megawatt (MW) of electric power daily at peak times, she said.
Mashaly noted that the implementation of the project will begin in June after contracts are signed with the companies that win the bids for the construction of the infrastructure to enable electricity interconnection between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
In 2013, Egypt and Saudi Arabia signed a cooperation agreement to establish the electricity interconnection project between the two countries, but the project was repeatedly postponed, most recently because the connection lines overlapped with those of the Saudi NEOM project.
