The capacity of the grid will be raised after the new compensators are installed, the embassy said, noting that the equipment had already been moved from Port Sudan to the northern area of the country.
The Sudanese equipment deal was fully funded by the Egyptian government, informed sources told Ahram Online.
“The Egyptian Embassy in Khartoum congratulates the brotherly Sudanese people on this large and positive development and affirms Egypt’s continued support to brotherly Sudan in all fields, which is a priority to the Egyptian government and people,” the embassy’s press release added.
In remarks to Ahram Online, Salah Ezzat, the official in charge of the southern region’s affairs at the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC), said work is underway to raise the capacity of the power grid link with Sudan using the Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) technology.
Ezzat expects work to raise the grid capacity between the two countries to 300 MW to be completed by the end of the year.
In March last year, the state-run EETC and the Sudanese Electricity Transmission Company awarded Siemens Energy a contract for the supply and installation of two STATCOMs in the Dongola and Merowe stations in northern Sudan.
The first phase of the project aims to supply Sudan with electricity with a capacity of 70 MW, while the second phase will raise it to 300 MW, said the Egyptian cabinet.
The Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy announced at the time that the implementation period of the contract would be around 18 months from the date of its signing.
“This project will help Egypt export reliable power to its neighbor, bringing it closer towards its goal of becoming a regional power hub, said Siemens Energy Egypt’s Managing Director Emad Ghaly in March 2021.
Egypt and Sudan’s electricity grids were officially linked in April 2020 at a voltage of 220 KV, a year after the 100 km electricity line between the two countries was completed, according to the cabinet.
In the same month, Sudan's Ministry of Energy and Mining announced the completion of the extension of the grid to Sudan’s northern areas.
Egypt, a country with an electricity surplus of more than 25 percent according to officials, seeks to act as a regional electricity hub, exchanging electricity with nearby countries during peak demand and exporting electricity to countries in need.
The country has existing electricity links with Libya and Jordan and plans to transfer electricity to Iraq with a capacity of up to 700 MW for the first phase. Egypt and Jordan agreed in November last year to double the capacity of their electricity grid link to 1 GW.
In October, Egypt and Saudi Arabia awarded contracts to EETC and Saudi Electricity Company for the implementation of a project to link their power grids and allow the exchange of up to 3,000 MW of electricity at a value of $1.8 billion.
In the same month, Egypt, Greece and Cyprus also signed a trilateral agreement on power linkage few days after Egypt signed an accord with Cyprus on linkage between the two countries’ electricity transmission networks.
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