|
21 December 2005 - Saudi Arabia's Deputy Minister for Electricity Affairs Saleh ibn Hussain Al-Awaji has said that the Kingdom is planning to extend its power grid to Egypt. It is already part of the GCC Grid Interconnection project that will in its first phase connect power lines to Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait.
A link with Egypt's grid system would be the largest of its kind in the Middle East. The first power line to Egypt is in the planning stages. The move to link up Egypt is significant since the Kingdom is a major investor in that country.
Al-Awaji made his comments during the Saudi-French seminar about new technologies for electrical systems development that took place in Riyadh. "By the end of 2004, a total of 10 160 cities and villages were given power lines, which brought the total subscribers to 4.6 million. This was an increase of 5.8 per cent over the previous year," Al-Awaji said.
According to the deputy minister, the Kingdom has 75 power stations with an output of 35 000 MW, which was an increase of 1.4 per cent over the previous year.
He said that the Kingdom has a budget of SR30 billion for power and water projects for the next decade. The investments will go toward generating 5000 additional megawatts and 2.2 million cubic meters of desalinated water. Twelve more power transmission lines will also be constructed in the next ten years. "Attractive opportunities are available in the Kingdom for foreign investors in the field of power generation and distribution. They could also invest in the industrial sector, which could manufacture power tools, high-voltage equipment, switch gears and spare parts for the power plants," said Al-Awaji. Addressing a meeting of French investors he said, "We would also like to exchange expertise in the power sector."
| 
Articles 
| View all PennWell sites | View all PennWell events
Add RSS Feed
