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Saudi Arabia and Greece set up grid link

10 October 2023

Greece and Saudi Arabia have agreed to set up a jointly-owned company that will look at linking their electricity grids.

Greece's Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO) and Saudi Arabia's National Grid will set up a company, provisionally called Saudi Green Interconnection, Reuters reported in late September citing the Greek energy ministry.

The new company is tasked "with examining the commercial viability of the power interconnection".

Related read: Region plans vital big grid connections

The deal follows initial discussions conducted last year between Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman and his Greek counterpart, Kostas Skrekas, in Riyadh.

At the time, the discussions involved cooperation in renewable energy and the promotion of an electricity interconnection that will export clean energy to Greece and Europe.

They also discussed the potential of transporting clean hydrogen to Europe through Greece.

Greece is also working on a potential project to connect its electricity grid with Egypt's. 

In February this year, US engineering firm McDermott signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Athens-based Eunice Energy Group for the 2GW electricity interconnection project between Egypt and Greece.

Eunice Energy leads the consortium known as Greece-Africa Power (GAP), which is developing the project.

McDermott is expected to provide "engineering and construction guidance for the project".

In October 2021, Egypt signed separate power interconnection agreements with Greece and Cyprus.

The agreements were expected to pave the way for implementing the so-called Eastern Mediterranean energy corridor.

The planned interconnector aims to enable the exchange of between 2,000MW and 3,000MW of electricity between Egypt, Cyprus and Greece and potentially with other European countries, as MEED reported.

The agreement with Greece entails setting up an undersea cable network that will transmit renewable energy produced from North Africa to Europe.

Skrekas and his Egyptian counterpart, Mohamed Shaker, signed an MoU for the project at a ceremony in Athens on 14 October 2021.

The deal follows the signing of a similar agreement between Greece, Cyprus and Israel to build the Euro-Asia Interconnector, understood to be the world's longest and deepest underwater power cable crossing the Mediterranean, estimated to cost $900m.

An electricity grid linking Egypt and the GCC states is also under way. Egypt and Saudi Arabia awarded substation, subsea and overhead transmission contracts for the $1.8bn interconnector linking the GCC states and North Africa in October 2021.

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Jennifer Aguinaldo

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