MUSCAT, JUNE 10
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Iraq yesterday inaugurated their electrical grid interconnection project. This ambitious project, with an initial capacity of 1000 megawatts, which has been in development for several years, will connect the national power grids of GCC states and Iraq, creating a unified network that will improve the reliability of electricity supply, reduce costs and promote sustainable development in the region.
The inauguration, held under the auspices HH Royal Prince Saud bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz, Governor of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, in the presence of ministers of energy and electricity of the GCC states, was made with an electrical connection ceremony between the city of Arar in Saudi Arabia and the Yusufiya region in Iraq.
Mohsen bin Hamad al Hadhrami, Oman’s Under-Secretary of Ministry of Energy and Minerals and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gulf Electrical Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) attended the event and said “the Gulf electrical interconnection project is one of the most important infrastructure interconnection projects approved by the leaders of the GCC states. The Gulf electrical interconnection project has achieved, year after year, technical and economic benefits for the GCC countries, as it contributes to support in emergency cases to spare the networks of the GCC countries electrical outages. It provides immediate support during emergency cases by transferring the required power through the grid that extends for a distance of about 1,050 km from Kuwait to the Sultanate of Oman.”
The project, since its operation until now, has supported approximately 2,700 cases. It has also contributed to achieving savings for the GCC countries ranging from $ 200 to 300 million annually and the cumulative savings for the GCC countries since the start of the project has reached $3 billion.
“The project aims to meet part of the demand for electrical power in the southern Iraq, with about 500 megawatts of energy from the GCC countries through the Gulf electrical interconnection network as a first stage. The project will take about 24 months and is expected to be completed and operational by end of next year.”
Jassim al Budaiwi, Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, said that the Gulf electrical interconnection project is one of the most important projects linking the infrastructure between the GCC states and aims at addressing the loss of power supply, reducing carbon emission and reducing the costs of establishing optical fibre networks. It provided the basis for the exchange and trade of electricity among member states in order to serve the economy, support the reliability of electrical supply and deals with emergency crises.
“The connection with the southern grid of Iraq is one of the most important strategic projects for the GCC states. It will support the existing cooperation between the GCC countries and the Republic of Iraq. It will allow the Republic of Iraq to find sustainable alternatives to electric power and will achieve economic benefits for both sides through the export of electricity from the GCC states to Iraq.”
Eng Ahmed al Ibrahim, CEO of the Gulf Electrical Interconnection Authority, said GCC energy ministries created a platform for energy exchange since 2016, which “leads to us to realise the Arab dream after linking with Iraq and then Jordan and Egypt or the ‘Arab Common Market for Electricity.’ The next plan after linking outside the GCC system is linking with Jordan and Egypt and we are now in the final feasibility study for linking to reach Europe.”
The GCCIA leads the renewable energy alliances and the integration of renewable energy sources into the electricity grids of the GCC states and have ambitious plans and projects to produce electric energy with renewable energy according to the best technologies.
He revealed the trend to increase the investment in GCC electrical grid by about $1.5 billion over the next five years, pointing out that these investments contribute to supporting three huge project: the expansion of electrical connectivity in Kuwait, expansion of electrical connectivity in the UAE and direct connection with the Sultanate of Oman. He stressed that the increased investment in the grid will increase the capacity of the electrical connectivity with the GCC states.
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