Egypt a Conduit for Electricity Trade

Egypt could become a conduit for the trade of electricity between Africa and the Middle East. According to reports from the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), Saudi Arabia plans to trade electricity with Africa by 2020.

Speaking at a forum in China, Saudi’s Minister of Energy, Industry and Natural Resources Khalid Al Falih was quoted by SPA as saying, “Before 2020, Saudi Arabia will be interconnected to and trading electricity with Africa via Egypt, and has tentatively agreed with Turkey to conduct a detailed feasibility study of a project to link the two electrical networks, from which the kingdom can supply European markets.”

GCC countries are already interconnected on the power grid and have been since 2011. “This has now become ready for further interconnection with countries in Asia, Europe and Africa,” Falih said.
“Such power connectivity with other regions will leverage not only Saudi Arabia’s prominent position in electricity generation, but also the growing efficiency of the kingdom’s power generation fleet, which will be expanded with the introduction of renewables that could rise to some 9.5 GW by 2023.

“Given that assumption, renewables will account for 10% of Saudi Arabia’s total energy mix.”