Hitachi ABB Power Grids consortium awarded contract in MENA

Hitachi ABB Power Grids announced that it is the lead in a consortium that has been awarded a major contract worth several hundreds of millions of US dollars from the Saudi Electricity Company and the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company.

The award is for the first ever large-scale HVDC interconnection in the Middle East and North Africa, enabling the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the Arab Republic of Egypt to exchange up to 3,000 MW of electricity – much of which is expected to be generated from renewable energy sources in the future. The connection will support the flow of power in multiple directions between three terminals and will be the first interconnection allowing the exchange of electric power between both countries.

The business will also be providing system studies, design and engineering, transformers, valves, high-voltage equipment, technical advisory, commissioning and service, in collaboration with two consortium partners – Saudi Services for Electro Mechanic Works in KSA and Orascom Construction in Egypt.

The HVDC link will give Egypt access to the interconnected power grids of the Arabian Gulf, and KSA access to those of North Africa, whilst strengthening grid resilience and power supply security. Both countries have ambitious carbon-neutrality targets. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is working to increase the share of natural gas and renewable energy sources to approximately 50 percent by 2030, and the Arab Republic of Egypt intends to increase the supply of electricity generated from renewable sources to 42 percent by 2035.

H.E. Egypt’s Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Dr. Mohamed Shaker El-Markabi, highlighted the unceasing endeavors of Egypt & KSA to attain sustainable social and economic goals across the entire Arab world.

Egypt’s Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy added that the robust connection between two of the largest electrical networks in the region, promise stability and reliability on power supply.

“The clean energy transition is one of the most urgent and important challenges of our times and we must innovate and collaborate to accelerate our carbon-neutral future,” said Claudio Facchin, CEO, Hitachi ABB Power Grids. He continued, “We are proud to have the opportunity to work with our esteemed customers and partners in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Arab Republic of Egypt for this prestigious project. At Hitachi ABB Power Grids, we are enabling interconnections between continents, with unique capability to reliably exchange electric power at scale, across borders and time zones.”

In the longer term, the link has the potential to be part of a more broadly interconnected energy system with Europe and the eastern Mediterranean, allowing the exchange of solar power from the south and east with wind and hydro power from the north.