Red sea study awarded

The Egyptian Energy & Electricity Ministry and Saudi Arabian Water & Electricity Ministry have selected the Brussels office of Belgium's Tractebel Engineering for a contract to carry out a feasibility study covering the interconnection of the two countries' national grids. The contract is due to be signed soon.

Under the terms of the six-month contract, Tractebel will examine the technical and economic feasibility of a high-voltage link-up across the Red Sea. The study will cover options for overhead transmission lines and subsea electricity cables, as well as AC and DC current possibilities.

'It's a preliminary study, but extremely important politically for both sides as you can imagine,' says a Tractebel source. 'There is a great deal of interest in this.'

If built, the Red Sea link will allow for an uninterrupted interconnection of power between the GCC electricity grid now under construction and the so-called Mediterranean loop (Medring) covering the North African states. The link will open up the possibility of GCC electricity sold directly to Europe.

The GCC Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) estimates that the benefits of east-west interconnection are worth $10,000 million over 20 years against a cost outlay of $8,500 million. The sharing of fixed and spinning reserves can save up to 5,000 MW of installed capacity and bring other benefits such as optimal use of energy sources, promotion of related industries and integration of manpower and training (Power & Water, MEED Special Report, 7:4:06).

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