Egypt will start exporting electricity to Sudan during the first quarter (1Q) of next year through a power line linking the two countries, with a capacity of 300MW.
Informed sources told Daily News Egypt that the Egyptian government has completed all the technical procedures for the project of electrical interconnection with Sudan, leaving only the completion of alternative feeding via a transmission line of 220 kilovolt (kV) to connect the two stations from Owainat to Balat, in the New Valley governorate.
The sources added that the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) officials are following up the developments of the electricity interconnection project with the Sudanese side. There are some tasks and requirements that are being finalized to receive electricity exported from Egypt through the interconnection line including a follow-up from the German company Siemens.
The sources pointed out that Egypt has completed the implementation of 100-km lines up to Arqin, the border crossing between Egypt and Sudan. Both sides will soon start the agreement reviewing the exchange metre, production capacity, and the amount of energy that Egypt will supply to Sudan to start operation.
The sources pointed out that the financial matters and ways of paying the value of access to electricity, whether in cash or through other economic agreements are through political leaderships between the two countries.
Trade volume between the two countries reached about $364m in the first eight months of last year, of which $222m are Egyptian exports and $142m are Sudanese exports to Egypt.
Egypt has invested heavily in the production of electricity during the past four years, and has a surplus of up to 20,000 MW and is working to link with all neighbouring countries to export this surplus.
Sudan produces about 3,000MW of electricity, about half of which are from dams on the Nile, and about half of the population is not covered by the electricity. On the other hand, Egypt has demand for food commodities including meat, grains, and oils. Sudan is one of the important markets to supply part of these needs, particularly meat.
