Egypt is planning to complete its project to link power grids with Saudi Arabia by the end of 2018 or early 2019 at maximum, an Egyptian official said on Tuesday. The project aims at linking the power grids of Egypt and Saudi Arabia to help meet peak-time demand, Chairman of the Egyptian state-run New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA), Mohamed Salah El-Sobky further said. Egypt will send Saudi Arabia electricity through the connection in the afternoons and Saudi Arabia will send electricity to Egypt in the evenings, taking advantage of the difference in the countries' peak use hours, he added. Egypt and signed three agreements with Saudi Ministry of Water and Electricity concerning the electricity interconnection project totalling $1.6 billion in December 2013. El-Sobky further said Egypt also targets expanding into making partnerships with African countries in renewable energy sector, In earlier statement to Amwal Al Ghad, the Egyptian official said Egypt was also studying technical and economic feasibility of launching power grid linking projects with the Nile Basin countries, in a bid to boost the North African country's ties with African states.
