Egypt has taken a significant move towards fulfilling its ambition to establish itself as a pivotal regional and international energy hub as the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company inked this month a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Belgian maritime infrastructure company Jan De Nul to conduct a feasibility study on renewable energy exports to Europe, a recent cabinet statement said.
The core of the project involves the installation of an underwater cable with a minimum capacity of two gigawatts.
“Europe, grappling with energy insecurity following the Russia-Ukraine conflict, sees Egypt as a promising partner to address its energy needs,” said Hafez el-Salamawi, who is professor of energy engineering at Zagazig University.
“The Egyptian initiative comes at a time when the European Union is contemplating an electrical interconnection project linking Greece and Egypt in its list of Projects of Common Interest (PCIs),” el-Salamawi told The Egyptian Gazette.
In 2021, Egypt signed two agreements with Cyprus and Greece to conduct feasibility studies for a three-way 2,000 MW electrical interconnection.
El-Salamawi said the electrical interconnection project between Egypt and Cyprus, and from there to Greece and then to the rest of Europe will help Egypt to become an important energy partner for the European continent.
“Egypt has built up a large surplus of electricity over the past few years by building new power stations, upgrading existing ones and expanding wind and solar energy projects after the frequent blackouts in 2014.
“That, combined with our natural gas bonanza, will help Egypt position itself as a regional energy hub,” el-Salamawi added.
“In recent years Egypt has sought to expand its electrical connection projects with Arab, African and European countries in an attempt to become a regional and international energy hub.”
In October 2021, the Saudi Electricity Company and the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company signed an agreement awarding contracts for the Saudi-Egyptian electricity interconnection scheme that will enable the two countries to exchange up to 3,000 MW.
The first 1.5 GW phase will be operational by 2024. Phase two with 1.5 GW will follow a year later, Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker said previously in a statement.
The national grids of both countries will be linked from Badr City in Egypt to Medina and Tabuk in Saudi Arabia by a transmission line stretching 1,300 kilometres and 22 kilometres of cables in the Gulf of Aqaba.
It will have a total capacity of 3,000 MW and surplus power to be exchanged between the two countries during peak times which are different for each, the minister said.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), this is the first large-scale high-voltage direct current (HVDC) interconnection link in the Middle East and North Africa region.
“The project offers Egypt multiple benefits. The country will have the chance to use Saudi electricity at peak consumption in the evenings, while Saudi Arabia will benefit from Egyptian electricity at their own peak time in the afternoon,” el-Salamawi said.
“Egypt will also be able to access the wider Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) grid, with the possibility of exporting electricity to Bahrain, Oman, and Kuwait,” he added.
Egypt and Sudan are also working together to increase the capacity of the electrical interconnection line between the two countries from 80MW to 300 MW.
“Egypt already has power links with Jordan, Sudan and Libya and is looking forward to increasing links with other Arab, African and European countries, making Egypt an energy centre in the Middle East, East with Jordan and Saudi Arabia, west with Libya, south with Sudan, and north with Cyprus and Greece,” el-Salamawi said.
“This is a real turning point for Egypt, which had been relying on energy imports for years,” he said, noting that such projects will boost national income and promote energy security.
