Egypt to have electricity interconnection with Sudan

CAIRO – 24 April 2018: Deputy Electricity Minister Osama Asran and First Undersecretary of the Ministry Mohammed Mossa Omran headed to Sudan on Monday to agree upon the terms of the electricity interconnection project between the two countries.

An official source in the Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy said that Asran is expected to sign a memorandum of understanding with the energy officials in Sudan in preparation for signing contracts to start the project.

The source pointed out that the capacity of the project will be 200-300 MW, according to the electricity needs of the Sudanese people, explaining that Egypt is able to complete the project within six months.

Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker said earlier that Egypt is eager to support the African and Nile Basin countries’ needs of electricity in light of the higher capacity of Egypt’s national electricity network than the needs of Egyptians.

Shaker added that Egypt is studying electricity interconnection with the African countries to benefit from the hydropower in Africa.

The expected investment cost of the project in Egypt is $56 million (LE 990 million), Egyptian Electricity Transmission Co. (EETC) Chairman Gamal Abdel Rehem said, clarifying that Sudan will afford the cost of constructing electricity lines on its land.

Abdel Rehem added that an interconnection between Egypt and Sudan will be the starting point for electrical linkage between Egypt and all Africa.

Meanwhile, Egypt will sign the contracts of the electricity interconnection project with Saudi Arabia in June to start the implementation of the project.

Electrical interconnection lines between Egypt and Saudi Arabia are scheduled to begin operation in the beginning of 2021, with a capacity of 3,000 MW.

The Egyptian-Saudi project targets making Egypt a central hub for electricity among the Arab countries, aiming to establish an infrastructure for electricity trade between the Arab countries in preparation for the establishment of a common market for electricity.

Egypt is already electrically interconnected with Jordon and Libya. Egypt signed a memorandum of understanding with Cyprus and Greece to interconnect electrically, which will make Egypt a central hub for electricity linkage between three continents.

The electricity interconnection between Egypt and Jordon is currently working at capacities ranging between 400 and 450 MW. These capacities are currently being increased.