Egypt holds talks on establishing submarine power cable to transport renewable energy to Europe through Greece

CAIRO – 1 September 2022: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi received Thursday Dimitri Kopilosis, chairman of Greece's Kopilosis electricity corporate, to discuss establishing a submarine power cable that would transport renewable energy generated in Egypt to Europe through Greece.

The meeting also tackled establishing solar energy and wind energy projects that would generate a total of 9.5 gigawatts of electricity. That is within the president's vision on turning Egypt into an interconnection point of electricity between Africa and Europe.

Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker signed in October 2021 electricity linkage MoUs with Greece and Cyprus in the presence of the chiefs of state of the three countries who were convening at the ninth Tripartite Summit held in Athens.

A month later, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tareq el Molla signed a memorandum of understanding with Greek Minister for the Environment and Energy Konstantinos Skrekas to foster bilateral cooperation in natural gas field.

This came on the sidelines of the 6th Ministerial Meeting of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum held in Cairo.

The MoU covered three prioritized areas of cooperation including liquefied natural gas trading, relevant research and exploration activities and the actual linking of both countries' natural gas pipeline networks, with a possibility of expanding these fields in the future, the Petroleum Ministry said in a statement. 

The agreement also outlines a framework that would encourage energy companies and institutions in both countries to cooperate with each other and start implementing projects on the ground.

Additional reporting by MENA