Saudi Invests $ 2 Billion in Egypt's New Power Plant

Published November 29th, 2018 - 04:39 GMT
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. (Shutterstock)
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. (Shutterstock)

Egypt’s Electricity Minister Mohamed Shaker announced cooperating with one of the Saudi Companies to establish a new power plant that will provide 2,250 megawatts of electricity with investment of $2 billion.

Shaker reviewed Egypt's success plan to solve the power shortage crisis during the Egyptian-Saudi Business Council Forum in Cairo on Tuesday, calling on investors to invest in the electricity sector, especially the new and renewable energy.

He said that the capacity of the power grid in Egypt will rise to 25,400 megawatts.

The minister also referred to the project of electricity interconnection between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

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Egypt announced earlier that it will sign the contracts of the electricity interconnection project with Saudi Arabia 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.

Shakerconfirmed the existence of promising opportunities for the production of renewable energy in Africa.

Minister of Electricity 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.

In April, Deputy Electricity Minister Osama Asran and First Undersecretary of the Ministry MohammedMossaOmran headed to Sudan to agree upon the terms of the electricity interconnection project between the two countries.

"We are ready to provide those who need electricity with any amount. We have an ambitious plan to raise the efficiency of networks and the law allows the private sector to invest in electricity,” Shaker said.

Shaker added that most of the investments in renewable energy will be carried out by the private sector, such as the project in Benban, the world's largest solar power plant, where the first two networks have been launched with a capacity of 1465 MW.

He clarified that Egypt can produce about 90,000 MW of new and renewable energy, noting thatthe country depends on the private sector to achieve that production.

Benban project is located in Aswan’s village of Benban with a cost of $3.5 billion and has a total capacity of 1.8 gigawatts. Aswan was chosen to host the mega project due to its perfect solar location.

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

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