Egypt to Establish Grid Interconnection with Nile Basin Countries

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--In cooperation with the African Development Bank, Egypt has studied the possibilities of trading electricity with other African countries and Europe since the early 1990s. A techno-economic feasibility study was conducted about the interconnection of Aswan in Egypt to the Inga Dam in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), passing through Central Africa and Sudan to transmit 40,000 megawatts (MW) of hydropower. The Grand Inga project has now been shelved, and the DRC and participating countries in Southern Africa are reconsidering options for regional power generation.

The Egyptian Ministry of Electricity participated in the Nile Basin initiative and a techno-economic feasibility study for electrical energy trade between the Eastern Nile Basin Initiative (Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan), which was completed in December 2008. The study confirmed the feasibility of exporting power from Ethiopia to Sudan (1,200 MW) and to Egypt (2,000 MW).

Moreover, Egypt is a member of the East Africa Energy Forum, comprising nine countries (Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, DRC), and participates in the committees and meetings of the African Union for Production and Distribution of Electrical Energy, comprising more than 50 African countries.

Dr. Fatma Moustafa, the planning director of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, conducted a study on the interconnection between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to focus on project challenges, such as the partnership in ownership of assets, investments and profitability, and risk analysis and mitigation. The study recommended the establishment of a multinational project entity composed of officials from three countries and other regionally concerned agencies to build, own and operate the interconnection and to set up a regulator dedicated to this interconnection project.

The Ethiopian Electric and Power Corporation (EEPCo) (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) will begin exporting electricity to Sudan in October 2010. EEPCo will start exporting as soon as repairs to the water tunnel of the 420-MW Gilgel Gibe II hydropower production plant in southern Ethiopia are completed. Moreover, EEPCo has already completed the 320-kilovolt Ethiopia-Sudan transmission line, which measures about 321 kilometers.

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