Egypt and Saudi Arabia are getting ready to launch the primary part of their long-planned electrical energy interconnection undertaking, with trial operations on the preliminary line set to start within the first week of January, Egypt’s Minister of Electrical energy and Renewable Vitality, Mahmoud Essmat, informed Asharq Enterprise on December 15 in the course of the ninth version of the Al-Ahram Vitality Convention.
The primary part may have a transmission capability of 1,500 megawatts (MW). Essmat defined that the undertaking consists of converter stations constructed particularly for the interconnection, along with subsea cables laid between the 2 nations to transmit energy throughout the Crimson Sea.
Moreover, he famous {that a} collection of technical checks has been carried out from either side to begin exchanging electrical energy, and that the outcomes of those checks will decide the official begin of operations for the primary part.
The minister added that work on the second line is progressing in parallel with the primary line. Testing of the second line is anticipated to happen round 4 months after the trial operation of the primary line begins.
The electrical energy interconnection undertaking between Egypt and Saudi Arabia dates again to 2012 and is estimated to value round $1.6 billion. In October 2021, the 2 nations signed agreements with the businesses that received the tenders launched by the electrical energy authorities in each nations to implement the undertaking.
On the Egyptian facet, a consortium of Orascom Building and Hitachi ABB Energy Grids was awarded the contract to construct the high-voltage direct present (HVDC) converter station in northeast Cairo and the transition station in Taba, Sinai.
Italy’s Prysmian Group secured the contract for the ±500 kilovolt (kV) HVDC submarine and land cable system to create the interconnection throughout the 22-kilometer Gulf of Aqaba, whereas China Electrical Engineering Firm and Giza Cable Firm have been contracted for overhead transmission traces on the Egyptian facet.
