Cairo — As Europe prepares for an uncommon winter as a consequence of a world power disaster, Greece has launched into one among Europe’s most bold power tasks by connecting its electrical energy grid to Egypt.
An underwater cable will carry 3,000 MW of electrical energy to energy as much as 450,000 households from northern Egypt to Attica in Greece.
Final October, the 2 nations agreed to construct the primary undersea cable within the Mediterranean to carry electrical energy produced by photo voltaic and wind power in North Africa to Europe. The full size of the undertaking is 1373 kilometers.
The Copelouzos Group is managing the undertaking, and its executives met with Egyptian leaders in October to hurry up the method.
The settlement comes at a time when Greece, Cyprus, and Israel wish to make investments $ 900 million within the building of a line connecting Europe and Asia that would be the longest and deepest power cable in the complete Mediterranean.
In a ceremony in Athens, Greek Power Minister Costas Skrickas and his Egyptian counterpart Mohamed Shaker signed a memorandum of understanding on the undertaking.
“This connection advantages Greece, Egypt, and the European Union,” Skrikas mentioned.
He defined that the undertaking will assist construct an power hub within the jap Mediterranean and enhance power safety within the area.
Moreover rising the share of renewable power sources within the power combine and decreasing greenhouse fuel emissions within the power sector, the undertaking is predicted to allow the export of renewable power from Egypt to Greece in periods of excessive renewable power era and vice versa. .
In response to Dr Ayman Hamza, spokesperson of the Ministry of Electrical energy, the Egyptian-Greek electrical connectivity undertaking has vital technical, financial, environmental, and social advantages. The undertaking goals to ascertain a powerful interconnection community within the Jap Mediterranean to extend the safety and reliability of power provides, in addition to to help within the occasion of transmission community breakdowns, interruptions, and emergencies, and to extend the extent {of electrical} safety. provides.
The undertaking, which is scheduled to start out in 2028, is a crucial a part of the continued strategic relationship and cooperation between the 2 nations. It facilitates the event of the power hall by rising the availability of electrical energy in Egypt and Greece whereas balancing power demand, encouraging responses to the challenges of local weather change, and decreasing emissions, which the all contribute to the continued progress of the hall, Hamza advised IPS.
“We’ve got 16 memoranda of understanding associated to inexperienced hydrogen,” he defined, including that “there’s a nice demand from buyers to spend money on renewable power, whether or not photo voltaic or wind.”
“On the sidelines of the COP27 local weather convention, it’s anticipated that bigger agreements on the extent of inexperienced hydrogen and others, with extra expertise, will likely be signed,” defined Hamza.
The chance for Egypt to extend its reliance on renewable power, he continued, was made doable by the massive variety of buyers pouring cash into photo voltaic and wind power. He acknowledged that Egypt will grow to be a regional renewable power hub.
Egypt has electrical energy connection strains with Libya and Sudan, and we’re working with different African organizations to take vital steps to attach Africa and Europe by means of electrical energy connection. Since Africa is a significant supply of power, it can profit each continents, the spokesperson continued.
In response to Dr. Farouk Al-Hakim, Secretary-Basic of the Egyptian Society of Electrical Engineers, the export of electrical energy in Egypt reveals a surplus, which produces a major financial return, strengthens the political place of Egypt, and transforms Egypt right into a regional power hub, as well as. of the various job alternatives created in operation and upkeep.
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Al-Hakim advised IPS that Egypt has a major surplus because of the set up of three giant energy stations previously few years within the administrative capital, Burullus, and Beni Suef, in addition to photo voltaic crops , together with the Benban facility, which is the most important in Africa and the Center East.
Right this moment’s electrical energy connection provides many advantages, he continued, particularly provided that Europe, like most different nations all over the world, is experiencing an power disaster because of the Russian-Ukrainian battle. Due to this fact, it’s a good suggestion to start out with two nations which have a historical past with Egypt, similar to Greece and Cyprus, he added.
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