Contract awarded for 3 GW HVDC interconnection project between Egypt and Saudi Arabia

Hitachi ABB Power Grids has been selected as the lead in a consortium that has been awarded a major contract worth several hundreds of millions of US dollars from the Saudi Electricity Company and the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company.

The award is for the first-ever large-scale HVDC interconnection in the Middle East and North Africa, enabling the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the Arab Republic of Egypt to exchange up to 3,000 MW of electricity at 500 kV – much of which is expected to be generated from renewable energy sources in the future, using 1,350 km overhead power lines and a subsea cable across the Red Sea. 

The power will be able to flow in multiple directions between the three terminals – for instance, from Tabuk to Badr, but also simultaneously from Tabuk to Medina. With the state-of-the-art MACH control system, the power flow can be controlled and reversed between the stations without interrupting the continuous power flow, providing maximum flexibility, grid resilience, and supply security to both countries.

The global technology and market leader will be delivering advanced technologies for the high-voltage direct current (HVDC) power link between the countries. The business will also be providing system studies, design and engineering, transformers, valves, high-voltage equipment, technical advisory, commissioning, and service.