Egypt and Greece have signed an agreement to finalise the technical and economic studies for an electricity interconnection project that aims to export up to 3,000 megawatts (MW) of power to Europe via the Greek grid, Egypt’s electricity ministry said.
The signing of the tripartite agreement was witnessed via video conference on Wednesday by Egyptian Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Mahmoud Essmat, and his Greek counterpart, Thanos Papastavrou.
The deal was signed between the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC), the Greek Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO), and Elika, a subsidiary of the Greek Copelouzos Group, which is implementing the project.
“There is a strategic direction to support and strengthen electricity interconnection projects and integration with the networks of neighbouring countries,” Essmat said in a statement. “The interconnection project with Greece is of great importance for achieving sustainable development and comes within a general strategy for interconnection with the European electricity grid to make Egypt a regional energy exchange centre and a bridge for electricity transmission between the three continents.”
Essmat added that both the Egyptian and Greek governments are keen to complete the project, which he described as an important gateway for the link between Egypt and Europe. He stressed the importance of electricity interconnection in supporting the energy mix, especially renewables, which will bring economic benefits to the countries and parties involved.
The project is of strategic importance as a bridge for transmitting clean energy from Egypt to the European Union, which has included it in its list of EU-funded electricity interconnection projects.
