The Egyptian government aims to advance the start date for the trial operation of the first phase of the electrical interconnection line with Saudi Arabia to next April, as part of efforts to accelerate the pace of ongoing work, according to a government official who spoke to Al-Sharq on condition of anonymity.
The Egyptian official attributed the postponement of the trial operation date by about a full month to “his country’s efforts to compress the project schedule in cooperation with the Saudi side, for the final operation of the first phase of the line with a capacity of 1,500 megawatts by next June instead of July 2025.”
At a time when Egyptians are awaiting the electrical connection with Saudi Arabia, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly promised earlier last month not to cut off the power this winter and next summer, and said: “We spent $2.5 billion to secure energy supplies to the stations, in parallel with working to secure new gas shipments.” “.
The project consists of 3 huge high-voltage transformer stations, the first in the east of the Saudi city, the second in Tabuk, and the third in Badr City, east of Cairo. They are connected by air lines with a length of about 1,350 kilometers and other marine cables. The implementation of these stations was won by a coalition of 3 international companies.
The official revealed, “The inauguration of the project's submarine cable will be completed next March, with a total length of about 20 kilometers.”
The electrical interconnection project between Egypt and Saudi Arabia dates back several years, and culminated in an agreement in October 2021 with the companies that won tenders, put forward by the authorities responsible for electricity in the two countries.
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